Pain-free Djokovic advances
NEW YORK—Asked during a prematch TV interview how his left shoulder was feeling, Novak Djokovic offered a terse reply: “I’m here. Let’s play.”
Then he walked out onto the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium with his black-and-white racket bag slung over that very shoulder and responded to spectators’ cheers by waving that very arm—as if to assure everyone he was ready to go. Once play began, the US Open’s defending champion and No. 1 seed certainly did look to be just fine.
And by the end of his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Denis Kudla of the United States on Friday night that put the Serb in the fourth round for the 12th consecutive appearance at Flushing Meadows, Djokovic was prepared to declare a change to his condition.
“I managed to play almost pain-free,” he said. “That’s a big improvement.”
And a big story at a tournament where two days earlier he had complained about how much that shoulder hurt.
Asked at his news conference whether he had taken a pain-killing injection, Djokovic said he didn’t want to discuss any specifics.
“I did a lot of things in the last few days to be able to play,” he said.
Djokovic skipped practice Thursday to rest the troublesome joint.
Meanwhile, there was no slow start to this outing for Roger Federer, who bristled at the suggestion that he might have played a role in some favorable scheduling.
After dropping the opening set in each of his initial two matches for the first time in 19 appearances at Flushing Meadows, the No. 3-seeded Federer was back at his absolute best in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Dan Evans, accumulating a 48-7 edge in winners as the opening act in the Arthur Ashe Stadium day session that began at noon.
Evans acknowledged 20-time major champion Federer’s superiority. How couldn’t he?
But the 58th-ranked player from Britain also thought the timing was “a bit disappointing,” because his rain-postponed second-round match was played Thursday, whereas Federer got to play Wednesday under the Ashe roof. —AP
