Novak Djokovic admitted on Tuesday after advancing to the US Open semi-finals that while he tries to have fun while competing, winning always comes first.

“I’m trying to enjoy the moments on the court, but there is so much stress and pressure going on that it’s hard to have fun, so to say, on the court. It’s really about finding a way to navigate through the match and win a tennis match for me,” Djokovic said. “But off the court, in terms of the actual journey of still being a professional tennis player and going around the world, travelling with my coaching team, we try to keep things light off the court and have fun and enjoy life, because in the end of the day, you have to find that optimal balance.”

The 36-year-old is doing just fine in the winning department. The Serbian is chasing a record-extending 24th major title and by defeating Taylor Fritz in the last eight advanced to a record-breaking 47th Grand Slam semi-final.

“Today it was a great test, to see how it feels being on the court, quarter-finals against a top American. Taylor has been playing some great tennis this tournament, I thought,” Djokovic said. “But I was very determined. I had clarity on what I needed to be doing on the court. Of course, in the heat of a moment, sometimes you want to use that energy to lift yourself up, and sometimes you just want to kind of cocoon yourself and really isolate the noise and focus on breathing and focus on staying present and focussing on the next point.

“So it’s really adapting to whatever circumstances have for you and whatever is required in that moment for you.”

Djokovic explained that sometimes he prefers to “not really pay attention” to what might be happening in the crowd. On other occasions, he likes to feed off fans’ energy.

“I didn’t really want him to win the third set, because then I guess the crowd would really get into it even more and it would become more difficult task for me to handle,” Djokovic said. “It’s normal, it’s logical to expect that most of the crowd would support the home player.”

The three-time US Open champion had not played an American in the quarter-finals of the tournament since he beat Andy Roddick in 2008. He has never faced a home favourite at Flushing Meadows in the semi-finals or later. That will change Friday when he tries to eliminate the winner of Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.

“It’s going to be an American player, for sure. I have to be ready for a great battle,” Djokovic said. “Both of the guys that I’m going to face eventually on Friday, Shelton and Tiafoe, have a lot of charisma. They bring a lot of energy on the court. They are very quick, very powerful.

“Ben Shelton has been serving some bombs this tournament. When his serve is on, he’s a very difficult player to play against, especially because he’s lefty, as well. Then you have Big Foe, who is one of the favourite guys in the locker room, fun to be around, always smiling, always bringing good vibes, and fantastic player.”

Djokovic looks forward to watching the match and preparing to take on the winner.

“I have a couple days off, no match. It actually serves well for my body at this stage of the tournament,” Djokovic said. “I’ll be ready for Friday whoever is across the net.”

Frances Tiafoe was introduced to tennis because his father was the head of maintenance at a tennis facility in College Park, Maryland. Now the American is competing on the biggest stages in the world with countless fans watching him.

That journey is not lost on Tiafoe, who is playing in his second consecutive US Open quarter-final on Tuesday evening against countryman Ben Shelton.

“I fell in love with tennis when I understood the one-on-one competition,” Tiafoe said in a love letter to tennis. “I really enjoy competing one on one, I really enjoy the loss [being] on me, the win’s on me. And I like to feel fully in control and not have to worry about any teammate.”

In the below ATP Uncovered video, Tiafoe explains the ups and downs he has gone through to reach this point in his career, why he enjoys putting a smile on fans’ faces and more.

Which match do you think Tiafoe holds closest to his heart? Watch the video to find out.

Alexander Zverev has advanced to the quarter-finals of the US Open after holding off a resurgent Jannik Sinner on a brutally humid Sunday night in New York.

Zverev kept his cool in the deciding set on Arthur Ashe Stadium to seal a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory and reach his 10th major quarter-final. The 12th seed was pushed all the way by Sinner, who had struggled physically in the second and third sets but came roaring back into contention with a valiant fourth-set showing.

Sinner began suffering with cramps in both legs during the second set and by midway through the third set his condition worsened to the point that Zverev approached him to check on his wellbeing. The Italian’s condition improved sufficiently in the fourth and fifth sets to ensure a pulsating climax for the Sunday night crowd, but Zverev outhit his opponent by 14 winners to seven in the final set to seal a hard-earned four-hour, 40-minute fourth-round triumph.

Late-night viewing in New York is out of this world 🙌@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/UmKhY79PWt

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 5, 2023

Both players felt the effects of humid conditions. Sinner frequently towelled off after points and Zverev changed his shoes and socks early in the second set. In a dramatic fourth game of the second set, Sinner appeared to show discomfort with cramps in both his right and left legs but showed great resolve to save five break points to hold serve.

In the third set, after dropping serve to fall behind 2-4, Sinner appeared to cramp severely in both his left hamstring and quad and was limping so noticeably that Zverev checked on his condition.

The Italian received the second of two permitted treatments for cramps from ATP physio Clay Sniteman at the end of the third set and looked somewhat rejuvenated in the first game of the fourth, when he earned four break points before Zverev ultimately escaped the 20-point game with a 129 mph ace within moments of midnight and the three-hour mark of the match.

A resolute Sinner went on to claim the only break of serve of the fourth set in the ninth game as Zverev double faulted on break point, but the Italian was unable to maintain his momentum into the decider. Zverev expertly kept his composure, breaking in the second game and saving the only break point he faced on serve to improve to 42-20 for the 2023 season.

Zverev, the 2020 US Open finalist, claimed just his second victory over a Top 10 player in 15 meetings at the majors. He improved his Lexus ATP Head2Head record with Sinner to 4-1 and repeated his win over the Italian in the same round at Flushing Meadows in 2021, when he went on to reach the semi-finals.

It was the second heartbreaking late-night defeat in New York for Sinner in the space of a year. In 2022, the Italian completed a five-hour, 15-minute marathon quarter-final with Carlos Alcaraz that finished at 2:38 a.m. Sinner had held a match point but the Spaniard claimed the victory and went on to win his maiden major title.

The world saw firsthand the heartbreak Taylor Fritz experienced at last year’s US Open. The American No. 1 allowed Netflix’s cameras inside his circle throughout the process of his surprising defeat to World No. 303 Brandon Holt in the first round for the filming of Break Point.

Fritz’s coach, Michael Russell, helped explain what led to the upset and how Team Fritz has learned from the experience.

“There were a lot of different dynamics at play. I think Taylor was here too long prior to the tournament. Seven days of preparation sometimes can create a little bit of burnout leading up to it,” Russell told ATPTour.com. “And then he just put way too much expectation and pressure on himself. You’re always going to have that pressure as the No. 1 American coming into your home Slam, but he really felt like, basically, he should win the tournament coming in.

“You want to have that confidence and that belief, but at the same time, there are 128 guys. They have to win seven matches in order to win a tournament, and there are a lot of exceptional players in that field. So combine that with the fact that you’re playing a fellow American that you grew up with, who knows your game so well, all those pressures, and he just didn’t manage it as well as he could have.”

Russell clearly credited Holt, saying the Californian “played an exceptional match”. The former No. 60 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings tried to take positives from the experience and adapted Fritz’s preparation for this year’s US Open.

“This year, we arrived Tuesday evening, Taylor was able to go back to Miami, where he has a place, for four days, which just really helps mentally and emotionally get ready and just a little bit of a break after a four-week stretch of playing the US Open Series of hard-court tournaments,” Russell said. “Then we actually increased the volume in the three days of practice here to imitate a little more of that three-out-of-five-set match play. And then we shut it down Saturday before the tournament started.”

Fritz’s “extracurricular commitments” — media, for example — have been minimal and the full focus has been on his tennis.

“Not to say that he’s not doing any of those,” Russell said. “But it’s managed much better from a time perspective and I think that’s really helped him physically, mentally, and emotionally deal with the pressure that’s always going to be there.”

This year, Fritz went from an early New York exit to a dominant first-week performance. The home favourite lost a combined 13 games in his first three matches against Steve Johnson, Juan Pablo Varillas and Jakub Mensik, before also dismissing Dominic Stricker in straight sets.

“You’re always going to be nervous, it’s normal. It’s part of sport. When you walk into competition, there’s always that unpredictability of what’s going to happen, but at the same time, it’s having the confidence, it’s having the belief in yourself. And then also, the preparation creates that confidence,” Russell said. “This year, the preparation was better. Of course, we have a lot of talks about staying relaxed, about staying confident. It’s very cliche, but controlling the controllables.

“You can’t worry about what other things are happening with other players, what the points are, what the money is. Literally just focussing on the ball, focussing on the court. It’s the same ball, it’s the same court for everyone. The lines are the same dimensions everywhere you go.”

Fritz will try to keep that in mind when he steps onto the court inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday for his quarter-final against 23-time major winner Novak Djokovic. The Serbian leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head 7-0.

“You can only control what you can do. So if your opponent is going for records or your opponent’s won this many tournaments and this many Slams, that’s great, that’s exceptional, and that’s for him,” Russell said. “But at the end of the day, tomorrow, when you guys both wake up, you’re walking out on that same court, and you’re trying to win the last point. So I think it’s ‘What can I do to win that last point? How do I make my opponent as uncomfortable as possible? How do I create that adversity?’

“For Taylor, that’s what the game plan is and what can he do game plan wise that can make Novak uncomfortable?”

The 2022 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finalist accomplished that against Djokovic in Turin last year. The eventual champion won in two tie-breaks, but Fritz served for the second set.

“That was some of the best tennis I’ve seen Taylor play and Novak was flustered,” Russell said. “I think if Taylor would have won that second set, it would have been a very interesting third set because that was some of the best tennis I’ve seen.”

Regardless of past results, Russell wants his charge to “play free” and “play relaxed” as he tries to make the US Open semi-finals for the first time.

“Enjoy it, get the crowd involved. The American crowd playing in the US Open, Ashe Stadium. No. 1 American against arguably the greatest player of all time,” Russell said. “I want you to enjoy the experience and look like you’re enjoying the experience. Go out and show a lot of positive emotion, a lot of spring in your step and just, take it all in and have fun.”