NEW YORK (AFP) – Defending champion Novak Djokovic will aim for a fast start against fellow Serbian Laslo Djere on Wednesday as he steps up his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title at the US Open.
Djere, ranked 109th in the world, was the only player to take a set off Djokovic at last year's US Open, taking the first two of their third-round clash before Djokovic turned the tide.
"It was a very tough match," Djokovic recalled, vowing to take the lessons learned into their second-round match under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Djokovic, coming off an emotional triumph at the Paris Olympics, will anchor a night session that opens with women's defending champion Coco Gauff, 20, taking on 37-year-old Tatjana Maria of Germany.
Djokovic, tied with Aussie legend Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slam titles but chasing his first of 2024, says he relishes the energy of Ashe at night -- but the 37-year-old hinted after his Monday victory over Radu Albot that he'd be up for opening the night session for chance at a slightly earlier bedtime.
"I don't think that aging helps really, staying so late," he said after his opener finished a tick before midnight. "I can feel my batteries are low - I'm shutting down."
That likely means he'll be even more determined to shut down Djere early, but Djokovic said his 109th-ranked compatriot is no pushover.
"I think he loves the conditions here," Djokovic said. "It's a bit quicker. Ball stays low. He has a very flat backhand particularly and very good serve, great return. He's physically as fit as anybody."
Fitness could be a big factor on Wednesday, with a forecast for hot, humid conditions.
That promised to be especially challenging for afternoon matches, including Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka's meeting with Italian Lucia Bronzetti on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff last year, is aiming to go one better and become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win both hard court Grand Slam titles in the same year.
She tuned up for the Open with a victory in the hard court tournament at Cincinnati, where she bounced world number one Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.
Seventh-seeded Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and eighth-seeded Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova are also in action, Zheng taking on Erika Andreeva and Krejcikova facing Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
STREET STYLE
Having bagged China's first Olympic tennis singles gold, Zheng is now aiming to follow compatriot Li Na as a Grand Slam winner after coming up short against Sabalenka in the Australian Open final.
She reached the quarter-finals last year in New York, where she's learning to love the restless energy.
"It's always going to be noisy in the stadium," Zheng said, noting the new rule where officials don't even try to stop fans from moving around between games.
"New York is busy, it's street style. It's different - I like it."
Other seeds in action Wednesday included No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany and sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev, a four-time US Open quarter-finalist.
Eighth-seeded eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway, runner-up in 2022, takes on French crowd-pleaser Gael Monfils.
Americans Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe seek second-round wins that would send them into a third-round rematch of their memorable quarter-final clash last year.