The good part was that the match wasn't a blowout. Novak Djokovic is too great a player to watch run late in a Grand Slam tournament to watch get easily defeated by Carlos Alcaraz. Tennis fans saw that happen in the final at Wimbledon in 2024.
How great a player is Djokovic, though? He is 38 years old, doesn't play that many tournaments, and still keeps himself fresh enough to beat nearly every player on the ATP tour when he does play. He just loses to Jannik Sinner most of the time. And he has now lost to Alcaraz in the semifinals of the US Open.
Alcaraz played things mostly safe, too. He had to to beat the all-time great. He made Djokovic pay for his mistakes, even though the Serb didn't give him many. The Spaniard wanted to be aggressive and take control early, however. He proved that by choosing to return in the first game of the match, even though he won the coin flip.
Carlos Alcaraz defeats Novak Djokovic to reach the final of the 2025 US Open
Carlos Alcaraz set the tone from game one. The Spaniard got the break, which was all he needed to win the first set. He did so 6-4.
The second set went to a tie-break, and Alcaraz got the minibreak he needed early and simply served out the set. He wasn't a lot better than the player 16 years his senior, but he was just good enough to win the important points and always play from ahead. Through the first part of the third set, he had only faced one break point, and he won that.
But the match proved the inevitable in men's tennis currently. Almost all the Grand Slam finals are going to feature Alcaraz versus Sinner, and all of them are going to be won by either of them. This has been the case since the beginning of 2024 and will continue for the foreseeable future.
Sinner still has to play his part by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the other semifinal match, but there is little doubt that it will happen. Once again, tennis fans will watch with zeal as the ATP No. 1 plays the ATP No. 2. Only, in the final, we could see a change at the top. If Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz will retake No. 1...for now.
The third set between Alcaraz and Djokovic was simply the final verse of what could be the last match between the Serb and the Spaniard. Djokovic can no longer consistently beat Alcaraz and Sinner, and one wonders if he might retire.
Serving at 1-2, Djokovic double-faulted to give Alcaraz a 3-1 lead. From there, the Spaniard needed to hold serve to take the match and set up an epic final. He did so and took set three 6-2 with a break in the final game.