What Novak Djokovic said about Carlos Alcaraz after losing their first ever match back in 2022

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Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will come face-to-face on the court once more, with the duo set to meet in the US Open semifinals.

Djokovic is a four-time winner of the hard-court Grand Slam, while Alcaraz boasts one title in New York so far.

Both are now chasing further career success at the US Open, a tournament at which they have never met on the ATP Tour.

Djokovic isn’t 100% fit ahead of another match against Alcaraz, which will represent their ninth career meeting.

Their first arrived back in 2022, when a 19-year-old Alcaraz stunned his veteran opponent at the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid.

What Novak Djokovic said about Carlos Alcaraz after their first ever match

The Spaniard beat the Serbian 6-7(5-7), 7-5, 7-6(7-5) in their semifinal tie, after which Djokovic said: “Well, congrats to him.

“He held his nerves very well. For somebody of his age to play so maturely and courageously is impressive. He deserved to win.

“I had a lot of chances, and it was a fantastic match. Great battle. But I am definitely disappointed with not being able to use my chances in the second set.

“Third set I had a lot of breakpoints. Just, yeah, wasn’t able to capitalize when it mattered. He did. Congrats to him.”

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And when asked if there was a specific point he would like to replay, perhaps the return on the backhand, Djokovic replied: “Yeah, yeah. Many times I gave him free points there.

“His kick and altitude here is huge, and it was just difficult to deal with his ball, and I wasn’t feeling my return from that side, you know.

“He was serving a lot of kick just to put himself in a good position. I just didn’t manage to handle that well.”

Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz entire head-to-head record ahead of US Open clash

It truly was an astonishing display from the teenager, who was forced to dig very deep as he came from behind to pull off the upset.

Remarkably, that arrived just after he had beaten his idol and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

The seventh seed then capped off an unforgettable tournament by defeating Alexander Zverev in the final.

But Djokovic clearly didn’t take his loss lightly, with the Serbian having since overturned his head-to-head record with the Spaniard.

He has won five of their eight matches, which includes a victory over Alcaraz in last year’s Paris Olympics final, and indeed one at this year’s Australian Open.

But the younger of the duo has managed to win two Wimbledon finals against the veteran, all of which sets up another hugely exciting clash between the pair.