Tennis legend Novak Djokovic’s 2024 US Open journey came to an end much sooner than expected as he was beaten by Alexei Popyrin in the third round. However, despite being defeated by the Australian, the World No.2 doesn’t think the latter has become one of the favorites to win the Grand Slam. According to him, Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz are.
After the match, the Serb was all praise for Popyrin in the press conference for defeating him ‘defending champion’. When asked about his chances of making a deep run in the tournament, he was quoted as saying:
“I don’t know what to make of that question. I mean, look, he’s just beaten me, the defending champion here, so, I mean, he deserves credit for that and respect,” said Djokovic.
Though he mentioned that if Popyrin continues to play and serve well, he could ‘beat anyone’ but added that the draw has opened up with him and Alcaraz being out of the race. He added that Sinner is the ‘favorite’ to win the tournament but also took some other names who could potentially become the champion this year.
“If he serves well, plays well, he can beat anybody. Look, Alcaraz is out, I’m out, you know, some big upsets. The draw is opening up.
“Obviously Sinner is the main favorite, but then, you know, Tiafoe is there as well as American favorite Fritz. Zverev, you have great guys playing well, and Rublev, Dimitrov in this part of the draw.
“Anybody can take it. It’s going to be interesting to see who takes the title in the end,” the 4-time US Open champion further added.
Novak Djokovic was asked if Alexei Popyrin can actually win the US Open, ‘He’s just beaten the defending champion, he deserves credit for that & respect’
“Is Alexei Popyrin like a real deal here? Can he contend for the title or maybe not quite there already yet?”
Novak: “I… pic.twitter.com/iqcBRzfkFM
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 31, 2024
Djokovic is right in the sense that Fritz is in good form at the moment. But the American No.1 will have to overcome 2022 finalist Casper Ruud in the Round of 16.
At the same time, after his nail-biting victory against fellow American Ben Shelton, even Tiafoe can be seen as a strong competitor in the race to lift the US Open title and Djokovic acknowledged that too.
While Djokovic took the names of Fritz and Tiafoe, he missed out on another important American name – Tommy Paul. Ranked 12th in the world, Paul has had quite a dominating and successful campaign so far with convincing victories in the first two matches. At the time of writing this report, he won the second set, 6-3 after losing the first in a tiebreak.
Paul has the ability to beat the biggest names in the sport on his day, especially on outdoor hard courts. So even if he would play World No.1 Sinner in the fourth round, that would not deter him or make him less of a favorite.
It does come as a surprise that Djokovic did not mention him even as an afterthought. During his match against Diallo at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, Paul was cheered on by 40,000 people in the crowd. That would play a huge role in his success going ahead.
Additionally, his backhand returns can never be discounted. Should Paul have a deep run, he would surely be a name on everybody’s lips in the future.
