Novak Djokovic will take on Taylor Fritz in the next round of the US Open, and he expects the crowd to be hostile.
Djokovic has mostly experienced a hostile US Open crowd because they often tend to side with the underdog. As he's one of the best ever to hold a tennis racquet, he was very rarely the underdog and generally saw the crowd go against him.
It will only get amplified as he's taking on a native player, as the American crowd goes very hard for their players. His route to the final will go through yet another American after this round, as he'll play either Ben Shelton or Frances Tiafoe, so he's bracing for it.
Well, I assume there's going to be more support for Taylor Fritz in our next match. Obviously eventually if I win, to play Shelton or Tiafoe in the semis. It's expected. We're in America playing against home players. It's something that I would be surprised if it's otherwise, to be honest. So I know what I'm expecting, and I'm going to get ready for that mentally.
Again, matches are only going to get tougher from now on. It's quarterfinals of a slam. I think it's important for a very big and important country in the tennis world, like America is, to have three tennis players from America in quarterfinals of a slam. It's important for this tournament. It's one of the four majors, one of the four most important events in the history of our sport.
We've seen a lot of Americans do really well at this year's US Open and Djokovic thinks it's great for a country that has produced some all-time greats in the past. There is a certain buzz this year, and Djokovic certainly can feel it.
Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of excitement about Americans being so successful lately. Tiafoe played semis last year. Things are moving on. Tommy Paul faced me in semis of Australia this year.