It took only one day of play at the 2023 US Open, and one important question is already answered, Novak Djokovic will return to the world no. 1 spot.
Ahead of the last major of the season, the Serb had quite a simple task at hand, he needed to win only one match to reclaim the top spot on the ATP Tour again. Djokovic knew he wouldn't face any of the seeded players, and the draw eventually gave him world no. 84, Alexandre Muller.
The two never played before, but that didn't seem to be a challenge for the Serb as the French player was on a six-match losing streak, which was started at the 2023 Wimbledon by Djokovic's main rival Carlos Alcaraz.
After failing the quest of winning the 24th Grand Slam at Wimbledon, and being denied a chance to do that at Flushing Meadows the previous two years, the 36-year-old has been as motivated as ever, and it showed in the first match of the set.
Djokovic lost only two points on his serve, and he managed to create break points in each of his opponent's service games. Moreover, he succeeded every single time, converting three out of five break points he had to win the first set 6-0 in just 24 minutes.
While the second set proved to be a bit more challenging for the Serb, it wasn't really. This time around, Muller got one break back, but the 23-time Grand Slam champion still broke his serve three times, resulting in a swift 6-2 win and a 2-0 lead after two sets.
The third set was the best from the French player, at least for the part of it. In his first three service games, Muller didn't lose a single point, leading Djokovic 3-2. But since then, the Frenchman couldn't add any more games to his total, as the Serb finished things off.
After an hour and 36 minutes, Djokovic won the match 6-0, 6-2, 6-3, and secured the top spot in the ATP Rankings thanks to the win, since he isn't defending any points from last year, and his rival, Carlos Alcaraz, is the defending champion.
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