What we’ve learned through Week 1 of the U.S. Open: Alcaraz, Djokovic on track

New York City has been buzzing with the 2023 U.S. Open living up to the hype with epic night matches, explosive rallies, celebrity sightings and surprise upsets. Here are five things we learned through Week 1.

There’s just one week of action left at the final Grand Slam of the tennis season.

New York City has been buzzing with the 2023 U.S. Open living up to the hype with epic night matches, explosive rallies, celebrity sightings and surprise upsets.

Novak Djokovic is still on course to reach another major men’s final, women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek faltered in the round of 16, Coco Gauff continues to surge, while a few American men look poised to snap a 20-year drought.

Here are five things we learned through Week 1.

Djokovic shows mettle, into quarters

He’s simply a mental giant.

Late Friday night on Arthur Ashe stadium, little was working for 23-time Slam winner Novak Djokovic.

His groundstrokes were not penetrating the court, he was unable to generate free points on his serve, and he was being supremely outclassed by his compatriot Laslo Djere, who had stunningly raced out to a 6-4, 6-4 lead.

Djokovic stepped off the court for a short bathroom break, gave himself a pep talk, and returned to court in lockdown mode.

His defensive skills reached new heights as he started to overwhelm an erratic Djere; Djokovic broke in the first game of the third and fourth sets, gaining the upper hand and applying key scoreboard pressure before eventually completing a 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 comeback victory.

Djokovic’s resilience in the best-of-five format continues to separate him from the field.

He’s now had comebacks from down two sets eight times in his career, and four times over the last three seasons.

His next match would prove to be much more straightforward as he defeated Croatian Borna Gojo 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Djokovic is into a 57th career major quarterfinal.

Much like Carlos Alcaraz produced at Wimbledon earlier this summer, it will take a truly monumental effort to defeat him in New York.

Speaking of Carlitos…

The defending champion has been firmly in control and dictating play through his first week of play.

Alcaraz has been the hottest tick