NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic gets why male tennis players from the United States are expected to win Grand Slam titles today, the way they did when Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were around. And he gets — that’s not to say he agrees with — why anything less is not really acceptable to the country’s fans.
“Of course, when you are used to champions and No. 1s in the world, Grand Slam winners, anything except that is not a success, right?” Djokovic said. “It’s a very high standard (and) criteria for these guys to meet, that you had players that were Top 10, like John Isner, after Andy Roddick. If (Isner) didn’t win a Slam, people think it’s kind of a failed career, which is something I don’t agree with. But again I understand, because America is such a big country in tennis.”
Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia with 23 Grand Slam titles, is going to need to beat two men from the host country at the U.S. Open if he is to play in what would be his 10th final at Flushing Meadows next Sunday. That’s because he’ll face No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, while No. 10 Frances Tiafoe meets unseeded Ben Shelton in the other matchup on the bottom half of the bracket.
Fritz, Tiafoe and Shelton give the United States three American men in the final eight at the U.S. Open since 2005, when Andy Roddick, James Blake and Robby Ginepri did it.
Roddick’s title at the 2003 U.S. Open was the last major singles championship for an American man.
While Fritz was in the locker room Sunday, waiting to take the court for his fourth-round match, he kept tabs on TV while Tiafoe — a semifinalist in New York a year ago — and Shelton were picking up their victories.
“It motivated me more,” Fritz said, “because I didn’t want to be the one to not make it.”
Taylor Fritz, of the United States, celebrates after defeating Dominic Stricker, of Switzerland, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis…
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