He has already put together the best Major year since the Rocket. But can he go the extra step, put Federer and Nadal in his rear view mirror and enter tennis Valhalla.

It’s going to be incredibly hard. Zverev’s Olympic win counts for something. And some of the other challengers like Berretini, Tsitspas and Medvedev have been close several times, the usual prerequisite for finally winning a Major. Djokovic would meet Berretini in the Quarters, surely the hardest Quarter he could have drawn.

The Joker is a hard player to pin down….all his wins this year have come after close calls with disaster. Some in 5 sets. Will he be able to right the ship if he gets behind under all this pressure. Who knows, but it’s going to be fascinating to watch.

I am not sure about Djokovic - he handpick matches to play in and even in some of those he lost to unknowns.    He has not one any PTA 1000 or TPA 500 matches this year  and other than the three majors he won only 1 PTA 250 series.    

Because of the long breaks in play in the second set in Round 1 he lost against a qualifier and look undercooked - against any stronger opposition he could have gone out.    Hope it is not a sign to come - but then he did not win the US Open since  2018  

If  all go through in the play-offs Djokovic will meet  Berrettini in the quarterfinal and Sverev in the semi-final, while his  final could be against  Medvedev, Tsitsipas  or Rublev.   Berretini has never beaten him in any series - but 2 of the other 4 have and stage fright  may not scare them off .

         .    

Duplicate

Novak through to the Round of 16. Not totally convincingly though. Nishikori has lost 16 in a row to the Joker, so this should have been easy. It was harder than that. I’m not sure what to make of Novak’s form al though he served quite beautifully down the stretch.

Mozart

Looking at the games today and yesterday - unless there are further upsets  - and those have been aplenty this year - Djokovic has not been convincing.    He keeps on  having to play four sets to win - even against qualifiers and also Nishikori.       

In his favor is that his potential opponent in the .quarterfinal may be Berretini - whose form was poor and he struggled badly playing the unseeded  Ivashka.     .