Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic is your new US Open champion. Djokovic defeated Argentinian Juan Martín del Potro 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 on Sunday night in US Open 2018 final and got his Grand Slam titles count to 14. This is also the 31-year-old’s second consecutive Grand Slam after he won Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Although the scoreline suggests that Novak Djokovic had an easy task in defeating Juan Martín del Potro, the truth was a bit different. Djokovic did manage to take first set comfortably, but then faced a real challenge in the second set.
Del Potro was up 4-3 in the second set and was on the verge of winning a break point in the eighth gem. Argentinian had three break point chances in this epic 20-minute gem, but Djokovic ended up taking it home. This led us to a tie-break, where Del Potro was once again ahead, serving for 1-4. Djokovic denied him that as well, and won the second set with incredible determination.
After this soul-crushing second set, Juan Martín del Potro tried to fight back in the third as well, but he just couldn’t find inspiration after all the chances he ended up missing.
“I was playing almost at the limit, all the time, looking for winners with my forehands, backhands, and I couldn’t make it, because Novak [was] there every time.”– said Del Potro after the game and described the match in the best was possible.
This win represents another validation of triumphant return of Novak Djokovic. Djokovic struggled with an elbow injury in the second part of the 2017 season and didn’t look like himself on the tennis court. He decided to undergo elbow surgery in January 2018, returning to professional tennis in March. Since then he won two Grand Slams and Cincinnati Masters and showed that he is one of the best tennis players in the world once again.
“There was always part of me that imagined and believed and hoped that I can get back [to] the desired level of tennis very soon,” – said Djokovic about his return. “But at the same time, life showed me that it takes time for good things, it takes time to really build them, for things to fall into place, so you can center yourself, balance yourself and thrive. The last two months have been terrific.”
