Novak Djokovic marched onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for his first tennis match as an Olympic champion with shiny, golden bags hanging from each shoulder. It was yet another reminder of just how much Djokovic cherishes his immense achievement this summer in Paris.
However, tennis moves on quickly and even as the 24-time grand slam champion continues to celebrate his gold medal, another massive event has already begun. Djokovic opened his US Open title defence with a solid performance, defeating the qualifier Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second round in New York. He has now won more matches on Ashe, 78, than any other man in history.
In the aftermath of his victory in Paris, Djokovic took his time before shifting his focus to the final grand slam tournament of the year. Unlike with so many of his other victories, where he had to quickly gather himself for the next tournament, the 37-year-old endeavoured to properly celebrate what he considers his greatest achievement.
After opting out of competing in Canada and Cincinnati, Djokovic hung around in Paris for days in order to commemorate the achievement. He eventually flew to Belgrade where he and the other Serbian medallists were greeted by tens of thousands of supporters. During his time in the Serbia capital, he rode through the streets at night, shaking hands and kissing cheeks through his car window.
The US Open marks the Djokovic’s first hard court event since March and it is just the fourth event he has contested on his favourite surface all year. As he tries to find his rhythm on the surface without any hard court preparation, the second seed has a helpful draw. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, the last three players in the tournament to defeat him at a grand slam, are all as far away from him as possible in the top half.
On Monday, his first challenge was Albot, a 34-year-old Moldovan qualifier who has spent most of his career ranked between No 50 and 150. While Albot is a consistent and tenacious player, at just 5 ft 9 (1.75m) he is underpowered against the elite.
Even though he started the match struggling with his first serve, Djokovic imposed himself from the beginning, rolling through his own service games putting constant pressure on Albot’s weak serve. Bit by bit, Djokovic ground his challenger down with his relentless depth and consistency off both wings and he rolled to a comfortable win.
“It’s always challenging to start, particularly when you haven’t played on this surface for five, six months, and coming off an Olympic gold and playing on clay,” said Djokovic. “I haven’t had any official matches before the US Open. So I’m expecting to be probably challenged a little bit more in the opening rounds.
“Hopefully I can play better each day. The good thing about slams is you have a day between matches where you can train, where you can really work on things and perfect your game. That’s what I feel like I need.
“So I’m going to hit the practice courts tomorrow and work on things that haven’t really worked during the match and, yeah, keep striving to be better.”
Nearly three months since undergoing surgery on his knee, Djokovic moved extremely well. Even though he continues to wear a knee support. “The knee is fine really,” said Djokovic. “I haven’t had any issues throughout the entire Olympic tournament and here first round. Knock on wood, it’s all good.”
Djokovic will next face his compatriot Laslo Djere, who defeated Jan Lennard Struff in five sets on Monday. While this is a straightforward matchup on paper, Djere played brilliantly to lead Djokovic by two sets last year at the US Open before the elder Serb recovered to win in five sets.
“It’s great for Serbian tennis, obviously, that two Serbian players are facing each other,” said Djokovic. “It’s a guaranteed third round for one of the Serbian guys. Hopefully it’s going to be me, but Djere is a guy that really likes playing on a big stage.”
Having now essentially completed tennis, winning every single major honour on offer to a tennis player, it remains to be seen how Djokovic will continue to motivate himself with nobody or nothing to chase. As he begins his pursuit of a record 25th grand slam title, though, Djokovic insists that nothing has changed.
“People would ask me: ‘Now that you have basically won everything with the golden medal, what else is there to win?’ I still feel the drive, I still have the competitive spirit,” said Djokovic. “I still want to make more history and enjoy myself on the tour. I still hope to inspire many young people to watch tennis, play tennis.”
