Joao Sousa is already the best tennis player in the history of his home country, Portugal. Today, the fiery 29-year-old has a chance to significantly further that legacy, if he's able to pull off a massive upset against No. 6 Novak Djokovic in his first US Open fourth-round appearance.
His road to Djokovic has been impressive. Sousa beat Marcos Granollers in straight sets before outlasting No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta, who retired with an upper thigh injury late in the fifth set. He then beat No. 17 Lucas Pouille, in a nerve-wracked third round, in four sets; Sousa had come into the match 0-5 in Grand Slam third rounds.
Djokovic isn’t taking the match for granted, even though he's 4-0 against Sousa, all straight-set wins. “You have to earn your win against him,” Djokovic said.
Here are a few things to know about the No. 68 player in the world before his Round of 16 showdown, including how he’s fared against Top 10 players:
- He moved from Portugal to Barcelona to pursue a career in tennis at the age of 15.
- Sousa is a bona fide polyglot: he speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, English, French and Italian.
- He became the first Portuguese player to win his home ATP tournament, in Estoril, this year beating American Frances Tiafoe.
- He lost seven matches in a row before entering the US Open.
- He snapped a 21-match losing streak versus Top 10 players, beating Kei Nishikori in 2016.
- Two other key Top 10 wins came earlier this year: he beat Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells and David Goffin in Miami.
