Novak Djokovic

New York can make you, and it can ruin you. Fast.

Case in point: Novak Djokovic.

Last year, in his two weeks at the Open, Djokovic transformed himself, on our stage, before our very eyes, from a gifted-but-little-known Serbian up-and-comer into a full-fledged star. Yes, it had much to do with his daring, nerveless play, but it was more than that.

Robert De Niro and wife Grace Hightower sat in the Djokovic player's box during his Open final against Roger Federer; they treated him to dinner at Nobu during the tournament and at Wakiya after he lost the final. Maria Sharapova cheered him on every step of the way, and rumors started running high that they began dating at the Open.  read more »

Roger Federer has found his game. He's playing confidently, elegantly and has reestablished himself as the player to beat in this tournament. With the rain holding off for just long enough, Federer outlasted Novak Djokovic in four sets, taking the last set 6-2.

Djokovic, who started to find his own game in the second set, uncharacteristically unraveled toward the end of the match; he started rushing his points, stopped chasing balls and had the look of a guy who couldn't wait to get out of New York. His post-match presser is going to be interesting.

At the end of the match, Mary Jo Fernandez asked 4-time U.S. Open champ Roger Federer who he'd rather see in the finals: Rafa or Andy Murray. He didn't dodge the question.

"I'll say Rafa," he said.

Please bring it on.  

Well, this is going to be an interesting day!

Today, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic square off at 11am (promptly!) at Ashe. Nadal and Murray follow, though the USTA allows the possibiltiy that they may play on Armstrong.

We thought we retired that court four days ago, but with the possibility of squeezing the men's finals and the women's finals on the same day is too tempting for the USTA. And they may play both men's semis at the same time.

This is something the USTA has never faced over the last four decades, and here comes a ridiculously insane day of tennis.

Will they get it through?

Boo, Hanna!

Andy Roddick said that his comments about Novak Djokovic's various injuries were all a big joke.

"Listen, I joke all the time. I don't think anybody in their right mind takes me serious. I think it's very clear when I give a serious answer and when I don't give a serious answer."

Well, maybe not.

"I don't know if, you know -- he took it as seriously," he said. "I figure if you're going to joke and imitate other people and do the whole deal, then you should take it."

Both Roddick and Djokovic said they wouldn't discuss anything they said to each other in the locker room after the match.  read more »

I caught up with Novak Djokovic's agent Benito Pérez-Barbadillo after last night's PR disaster, and he said a center court interview was definitely the wrong place for Novak to vent his anger.

"He’s young, and he’s learning," said Mr. Pérez-Barbadillo "He learns from defeats, and he learns from wins and he learns from life. He’s 21 years old and he had a shit day yesterday. You have a bad day yesterday and when a friend of yours, or someone you think is a friend of yours, says something and it’s taken from the press and all over the world and you feel hurt--he chose the wrong audience to say where he said and he learned from that.  read more »

The Serbian sweetheart of 2007 has lost his New York support.

That bad blood between Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick that we discussed? It bubbled all over center court last night. After Djokovic's hard-earned four set victory over Andy Roddick last night, he shot back in a post-match on-court interview at Roddick for implying that he was faking his injuries.

"Well obviously, you know, Andy was saying I have 16 injuries after last match, so obviously I don't, right?," said Djokovic in the interview. 

The boos began, but Novak, amazingly, did not stop there.

"Like it or not, it's like that," he said.  read more »

We made the argument this week that men's tennis today is looking exactly like the golden age of women's tennis from about eight years ago--its full of high quality tennis, rivalries and interesting characters. The only thing men's tennis appeared to be missing was the Henin-Williams-sisters-type feud. And now it looks like men's tennis has it.

Welcome, to Andy Roddick versus Novak Djokovic. Later tonight, at a little after 8:30 p.m., they'll face off in the quarterfinals. But if you've been listening closely enough, you'll notice some simmering tension.

In Djokovic's last match, he made a big deal of his many ailments: a hip, an ankle, fatigue from a stomach problem.  read more »

Taken at face value, the fourth-round match of Marion Bartoli and Sybille Bammer on Aug. 31 had a lot going for it. Both athletes played the grinding, gutsy tennis that New Yorkers adore, and the 3-hour, 3-minute match that ensued was tied for the longest in U.S. Open’s women’s history. 

No one cared. 

Throughout Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing, where the epic match was being played, many—too many—of the attending fans were holding little digital American Express TVs, keeping track of a sleepy Roger Federer-Radek Stepanek third-round match being played next door at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The PA system at the Ashe match dominated the quiet sound-space of Armstrong with songs like “Still the One” and “Welcome to the Jungle” at top volume between the Federer match and the Andy Roddick one that followed.  read more »

Novak Djokovic got his first test of the tournament this afternoon, and now it's Roger Federer's turn. Federer and Igor Andreev have nabbed a set each (at 7-6) and Federer is up a break in the third. At this point, we'll start the women's match at about 8:30, Roddick's match at 10:30, and we'll all be going home well after 1 a.m.

It took three hours and 45 minutes, but an exhausted Novak Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals with a five-set win over Tommy Robredo. It seemed like everything was ailing him: his stomach, his hip, even his ankle. It looks like that stomach ailment that we told you about before the tournament took its toll in this match. 

"If I started joking about all the things that bothered me now, we could talk until tomorrow," he said in an on-court, post-match interview. "Whoever I play [in the quarters] will be physically fitter than me, that's for sure."

It will be the winner of the Andy Roddick-Fernando Gonzalez match.  

Here's two-time Grand Slam winner and former U.S. Open champion Ilie Nastase talking about Rafa's game in light of Nadal's rather unextraordinary display of tennis against Sam Querrey yesterday.

"Nadal reminds me a little bit of Jimmy Connors," said Nastase. "He wants to win every point. I guess he likes to play the top guys; he plays his best against top guys. I think if he played Federer or Djokovic he would have played a different way [yesterday]."

Nastase said he's rooting for a Federer-Nadal final. "I'd like to see a final again of Nadal and Federer. It would be the best for that."

Correction: Due to pretty unbelievable stupidity, an original version of this post misidentified Ilie Nastase as Guillermo Vilas. We regret the error.

Reporters are not allowed to enter the men's and women's locker rooms. The rule was apparently put in place because players were complaining that it was a tad bit uncomfortable having reporters in their changing space, according to Marc Berman's New York Post blog last year. I remember learning of the rule last year when I read Berman's post, but I also remembered that he reported that the USTA was considering granting access for the men's locker room again for 2008.

Today, I got an e-mail from a USTA spokesman saying access was still denied. And apparently it's tougher than ever. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated said on the USA Network yesterday that security around the men's locker room is so strict this year that they won't even allow people with video cameras in there, let alone reporters (remember  read more »

Why can't Novak Djokovic just make it easy on us already? After we called him the cardiac kid last year after he made us get through grueling four-hour match after grueling four-hour match, he did it again tonight. It took him 3 hours and 54 minutes to defeat the very tough Croatian Marin Cilic 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 in a match that ended at 12:48 a.m.

Earlier today, Andy Roddick won in straight sets over Andreas Seppi 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 to move onto the fourth round. One of the awesome stories of the men's draw in the first week is Gilles Muller, a qualifier from Luxembourg who defeated #18 seed Nicolas Almagro 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-5, moving him to the fourth round.

No upsets elsewhere: Dementieva and Schnyder both moved on for the women; Davydenko, Gonzalez and Robredo move on for the men.

Novak Djokovic came into last year's Open unknown to many tennis fans, and he quickly became known as much for his impersonations of other players as for his playing.

But funny time is over. Djokovic said, "I always want people to remember me, of course, as a tennis player, as a great tennis player, a champion, whatever. I don't want them to remember me as a clown."

(No more Sharapova impression?! Then what are we DOING here?!)

At the USTA's official pre-US Open party on the rooftop of the Empire Hotel on W. 63rd Street, I overheard Novak Djokovic complain to friends that he's been suffering from some sort of stomach problem the last few days. He said that he was praying he'd be O.K. physically for the tournament.

A stomach problem is hardly a concern for a 21-year-old athlete (well, unless you're Richard Gasquet), but when you consider how Novak has a tendency to play--absurdly long, grueling 4-hour matches--it could be a factor early in the tournament.

In a Saturday press conference with the media, he didn't bring it up, but vaguely alluded to it by saying, "Physically I still need to work on some things hopefully till, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, I can be fit."

2007 was the year of the Serbian invasion of Flushing. Novak Djokovic became an overnight celebrity; we called Ana Ivanovic the savior of women's tennis thanks to her refreshingly grounded personality; Jelena Jankovic cemented a reputation as a tireless grinder whom the press adored.

And then this year got off to such a great start! Djokovic won his first Grand Slam in Australia and Ana Ivanovic won her first major at Roland Garros.

But since then, those beaming personalities and sparkly clean images have taken a bit of a public hit. First, before Wimbledon, Djokovic declared that Roger Federer was mentally fragile and plenty beatable. After that display of arrogance, Djokovic went ahead and got bounced in the second round.  read more »

hen Novak Djokovic checked into the Barclay on 48th Street three weeks ago, he was a little-known tennis player from Serbia.

He’ll leave New York a star.

By the time Djokovic, 20, reached yesterday’s final, he had impressed a tennis world with his play and won crowds over with his emotive personality.

Off the court, the celebrity treatment started even earlier.  read more »

Two weeks of stunning tennis have transformed the Serbian phenom.  read more »

U.S. Open champion Roger Federer was asked tonight whether Novak Djokovic was ready to unseat Rafael Nadal as the second best player in tennis.

"I guess Nadal is still No. 2, but it's getting closer," he said. "It probably depends who finishes better at the end of the year."

"No. 2, No. 3, doesn't matter much," he continued. "It's No. 1 that matters."

And there's no one else close.

I tried it again, and nothing bad happened.

So here, for our third and final attempt at live-blogging the Open, I'll be presenting a running account of the men's final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic live from Arthur Ashe Stadium.

4:24: Liza Minnelli is seriously winded after performing "New York, New York" on a red carpet on center court. The crowd seemed entertained by her performance too.

4:46: Wow. Federer abandons his traditional Sunday blue in favor of the all-black "Darth Federer" look.

4:48: Maria Sharapova in Djokovic's box. Really?

For my live action click 'Read More'  read more »

Novak Djokovic's coach, Marian Vajda, said the game plan that led them to success in Montreal last month will be similar to the one they use against Roger Federer today.

"We know a couple things, a couple weaknesses that we talked about before the match in Montreal," he said. "It's not going to change a lot."

What kind of weaknesses?

"I don't tell you now," he said. "It's kind of secret before the match. Sorry about that."  read more »

Later today, the 20-year-old Novak Djokovic will become the third youngest man to ever play in a U.S. Open Final. The only ones younger were Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg.  read more »

Before the U.S. Open started, Novak Djokovic's coach, Marian Vajda, was worried. He saw a challenging draw filled with potential landmines: Mario Ancic and Radek Stepanek—two former Top 10 players—in the first two rounds, Hewitt in the fourth, Moya in the quarters and Nadal in the semis.

"I have to tell you I had really bad feelings," Vajda said about an hour ago. "But Novak was really focusing and really pumped up and he never said he was worried. If he looked at my eyes, I didn't want to show him my emotion. I was hiding it inside of me."  read more »

Sometimes, apparently, people just go to a tennis match to watch tennis.

Shortly after the end of the first set between Carlos Moya and Novak Djokovic last night, a crowd-cam zeroed in on Alec Baldwin, who was sitting some ten rows from the court, just below the President’s Suite. Some fans in the crowd booed.

The 49-year-old actor called a young man in a coat and tie down from the President’s suite to speak with him while pointing up at the big screen. A few minutes later, Baldwin grabbed his wheat-colored Panama hat and left.

If you missed Novak Djokovic entertaining the Arthur Ashe crowd last night with his post-match impressions, here's a taste, and here's another, and here's yet another, of what the fans saw.

For a 20-year-old, Djokovic seems remarkably savvy about the way stars are made. Here's what he said after the match:  read more »

Finally. A much-needed, quick, straight-sets victory for Novak Djokovic, over a battle-hardened Carlos Moya. Next, Djokovic will take on the speedy, relentless David Ferrer on Super Saturday.

The '98 French Open champ and former world number one Moya had kind things to say about his younger opponent.

"I think if there's one player who can be compared to Rafa and Roger it's him," said Moya after the match.  read more »

“I’m going to take two or three aspirins before the match,” said Novak Djokovic’s coach Marián Vajda. “I’m going to need it. It’s going to be a real challenge.”

Like Tylenol?

“No, special Slovak kind. I need it to work.”

Tonight, Novak Djokovic will take on the determined 31-year-old veteran Carlos Moya in the U.S. Open quarterfinal. Djokovic's entire trip through the Open has been an exhausting one (see here and here) and tonight could be another headache.  read more »

Call him the new cardiac kid!

Just like his epic Wimbledon matches, Novak Djokovic is in another ridiculously dramatic match. With a crowd of about 20,000 people gathering outside Arthur Ashe waiting for the Justine Henin-Serena Williams quarterfinal, the Novak Djokovic-Juan Monaco match is hitting the three-and-a-half hour mark. Monaco just took the third set tiebreaker after saving a match point. Djokovic is up two sets to one.  read more »

What was the thing that Novak Djokovic loved most about his match last night in New York?

Cotton-Eyed Joe.

"Well, there are a lot of things I didn't know about the center court," said Djokovic. "I've seen it on the TV and it was a very, very exciting to hear the music between the games and, you know, it was something new."

Not for long.

Don't look further than Day 7. This will be the best day at the 2007 U.S. Open.

The Williams sisters both have fantastically difficult challenges on Ashe today. We’ll preview both matches this morning and find out exactly what their opponents need to do to win.

Meanwhile, Justine Henin gets Dinara Safina in an extremely intriguing night match on Ashe (as we’ve mentioned, playing at night is not Henin’s favorite). Novak Djokovic will follow by playing the young Argentine prospect Juan Martin Del Potro.

More than two hours after his 4 hour, 44 minute marathon match had ended, Novak Djokovic sat on a bench inside Arthur Ashe waiting to go back to his hotel on Lexington Avenue. He had just finished several rounds of interviews and I asked him how his cramped-up legs felt.

“Exhausted,” he said.

The match he just completed was nothing short of fantastic -- high quality tennis with long rallies, impossibly good shots and an electric crowd.

“It was a lot of fun,” Djokovic said. “We had great entertainment and the crowd loved it.”  read more »

Novak Djokovic just survived a heart-racing four-hour, 44-minute, five-set test, winning 7-6 (7-2) in a tie-break in the final set. Djokovic survived a two-set-to-one deficit and cramps in both legs.

"The match is unforgettable, I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for coming," Djokovic said at the end.

We'll have so much more shortly.

A barn-burner at Louis Armstrong: Novak Djokovic has won the fourth set 7-5 in a remarkably challenging second round match against the gangly veteran Radek Stepanek. They’ve been on the court for 3 hours and 45 minutes and both players are feeling it. Djokovic had a trainer come out twice in the third and Stepanek called for the medical assistance at 4-5 in the fourth set.

By the way, Djokovic never makes it easy. At Wimbledon alone, he played in 10 tie-breaks during his trip to the Semis. I'll keep you updated.

The Ahsha Rolle story is over, as Marat Safin's sister Dinara Safina put her away in straight sets. Justine Henin once again rolled in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2. She's trounced her opponents 36-9 through three rounds.

Novak Djokovic and the grisly Czech veteran Radek Stepanek are playing a thrilling match at Louis Armstrong. Stepanek took the first set in a tie-break, Djokovic took the second in a tie-break and Stepanek is up a break in the third. Djokovic's serve is iffy, but he's showed no nerves on big points. Stay with the match here.

After last night's exhilarating action, we've got some great tennis to follow up.

At 11am, Justine Henin plays at Ashe while Novak Djokovic plays at Louis Armstrong. In the afternoon, Ana Ivanovic, Tim Henman, Marion Bartoli and Serena Williams all play.

Lleyton Hewitt will play on Louis Armstrong at night, while Venus Williams and the injured Rafael Nadal play at Ashe.

Match to watch for: Mardy Fish v. Tommy Robredo at 1pm on Ashe. Fish is hot and he gets the big stage to take on the nunmber 8 player in the world. A solid chance for a major upset.

Yesterday, 20-year-old Novak Djokovic sat in a press room and patiently answered reporters’ questions for more than 25 minutes -- far longer than most players. Then he proceeded to grant one-on-one interviews, basically, to anyone who asked.

Is he some new breed of hyper-accommodating athlete?

"He'll get bored with it after a year," said New York Times columnist George Vecsey, who was among the scrum peppering him with questions. "It's refreshing right now because it's so new, but then he'll get bored with telling the same life story over and over again. He won't be as funny or expressive -- all it'll take is one bad experience. I'm not trying to be cynical here, but I've seen it before.

"I don't even think [James] Blake is as open as he was two years ago when it was just magic," he continued.

For reporters, Vecsey explained, Djokovic’s refreshing openness should mean one thing: "Gotta catch him while you can."

No surprises so far today. Martina Hingis and Lleyton Hewitt both won easily and Novak Djokovic is cruising.

A young American contender, Sam Querrey, lost easily in straight sets, so he won't join unheralded countrymen Donald Young and John Isner in the second round.

Pay attention to James Blake's match, which is playing out very, very tight early on.

You can track live scores here on the very good (and very fast) Open web site, which we have in our blogroll here to the right.

Novak Djokovic took a short break from checking his email in the player's lounge this afternoon to offer me the following reaction to his coverage in The New York Observer: "The caricature! It was funny!"

The first week of a major tennis tournament is usually judged by who loses.

But in a development that should be of some interest locally, yesterday was a big day for American tennis: John Isner and Donald Young, young hopefuls both playing in their first U.S. Open, managed fairly easy victories.

As for today’s matches to watch:

Novak Djokovic will take the court after being newly introduced to pre-Open celebrity status. It’ll be interesting to see how packed Louis Armstrong gets for his late afternoon match.

A day after the victories by Isner and Young, another young American, Sam Querrey, will play in the always-insane Grand Stand in the early afternoon.

Elsewhere, Nadia Petrova will play on Court 7 mid-afternoon and Croatian prospect Ivo Karlovic will take on doubles expert Arnaud Clement on Court 11 in what should be one of the best contests of the morning.

For those who were anxiously anticipating the Mario Ancic-Novak Djokovic match tomorrow -- probably the best first-round match on paper, if not the best-looking first-round match -- there's bad news!

Mario Ancic, the studly 23-year-old Croatian who was once a Top 10 player, withdrew from his match against No. 3 Novak Djokovic this afternoon.

Ancic had mono earlier this year and has played in only one Grand Slam since.

For Djokovic, it's a good break, who told me on Saturday that he didn't like his opening draw one bit.  read more »

We've written about Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, but we haven't mentioned the other Serbian making a major impact on the current field: the 22-year-old no. 3 player in women's tennis, Jelena Jankovic.

Jankovic's ranking has rocketed this year due to a remarkably extensive playing schedule. She's played 80 matches in 2007, compared to Justine Henin's 48 and Maria Sharapova's 42.

Jankovic, who kicks off her US Open play today against Jarmila Gajdosova, said she wouldn't play mixed doubles in Queens– where she won at Wimbledon – because she's overworked.  read more »

Last week, Serbian tennis sensation Novak Djokovic was speaking on the phone from the Barclay on 48th Street. It was close to 9pm and a group of friends were waiting patiently outside his hotel room waiting to party in Manhattan.

“Everyone is beatable,” Djokovic said. “No one is unbeatable.”

He was discussing Roger Federer, the 11-time Grand Slam winner who Djokovic had defeated in the Rogers Cup Final, a US Open tune-up, nine days earlier.  read more »

Welcome to the New York Observer's U.S. Open blog.

For the next 14 days, Spencer Morgan and I will be in and around the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing gathering stories, game analysis and observations from the tournament.

Stay with us, and please keep in touch (as often as you like) about what we’re doing and what else you’d like to see. We’ll do our best to oblige.  read more »

Roger Federer might be the greatest all-around player ever, and his rival Rafael Nadal might be the best of all time on clay.

Novak Djokovic, a 20-year-old Serbian, is ready to make the case—a more convincing one than we’ve seen in years—that there’s room for three players at the top.  read more »