Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are two of the biggest favourites to win the 2023 US Open, and they have an incredible respect for each other.
Two highest-ranked players on the ATP Tour, and two favourites to win every tournament that they enter. As the first and second seeds at the last major of the season, Alcaraz and Djokovic are projected to meet in the final.
It's the match that everyone is waiting for, but to get to the final, they first need to overcome obstacles that are currently standing in front of them. As Djokovic said, it would be disrespectful to their next opponents to talk about the final, and his words were almost proven the other night.
Facing fellow compatriot Laslo Djere, the 36-year-old was losing 0-2 after the first two sets, and it seemed that he might be eliminated already in the first round of the competition. But as Djokovic always does, he came back and won the match in five sets.
Alcaraz, who is his biggest rival for the title, was following the match. The Spaniard revealed he's following the majority of the matches, and of course, the one of his rival wasn't an exception. Although Djokovic was losing 0-2, the 20-year-old went to sleep, knowing that Djokovic would win.
"Well, I watched the first two sets, then I had to go to sleep. But, you know, when I go to bed, I was thinking Novak is going to come back, that's for sure. He shows once again that he's one of the best in history."
That's exactly what happened, and Alcaraz knew it would come just because the Serb is one of the best players in history, and he did it not once or twice, but multiple times before.
"Just he has come back from two sets to love down, I think I saw, like, six, seven times. So it's something crazy. Stay 36 years old and doing the same things that when he was 20, it's incredible. We have to give credit about that, and it's something I admire."
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