The doubles team of time and biology is, of course, undefeated. But they don’t win at a consistent pace. Venus Williams can look aged as a 40-year-old and then spry as a 45-year-old—as she did in her three-set loss to Karolína Muchová in the first round at the U.S. Open on Monday night. Now it’s Novak Djokovic’s turn to roll back time.
In search of his 25th career major singles title—pretty much his sole motivator right now, as he concedes—Djokovic did not play a match between Wimbledon and his first rounder at the U.S. Open on Sunday night. When he took the court against California’s Lerner Tien, a player precisely half his age, Djokovic looked more like a man nearing 40 who hadn’t played in six weeks than a legitimate contender. Compounded by a gnarly foot blister, he looked a half-step slow and a few kilos heavier than usual, and twigged together a straight-set win.
