Round 4: Novak Djokovic vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
Arthur Ashe Stadium — Night Session — First Match (7 p.m.)
- Tennis under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium is always a treat, especially when Djokovic takes the court in his quest to become the first player in the sport's history to win 25 Grand Slam titles. If the Serb wins tonight, he will be the first man to reach the quarterfinals at all four majors in nine different years.
- World No. 144 Struff is in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for just the second time in 44 appearances at the majors. His best result this season on the sport's biggest stages was a trip to the third round at Wimbledon, falling in the first round in Melbourne and Paris. This year, the 35-year-old reached the quarterfinals at Marseille and Kitzbuhel. If he manages to take down the No. 7 seed, he'll be the lowest-ranked player to do so at a Slam, and will be the oldest first-time major quarterfinalist since 36-year-old John Pearce at the 1960 Australian Championships.
- Djokovic has won 93 US Open matches, the second-most in the Open Era, only trailing Jimmy Connors' 98 wins. He has a 35-0 record against qualifiers and lucky losers at Grand Slam tournaments, and is 55-1 at Flushing Meadows against players outside the Top 30. The Serb is the all-time Grand Slam match win leader, and passed Roger Federer last week for the most men's hard court wins at majors, having claimed 192 of his 394 wins at Slams on hard courts.
- Struff has been a seed-slayer throughout the tournament, defeating American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round before upsetting No. 11 seed Holger Rune and No. 17 seed Frances Tiafoe. He was the No. 31 seed in the qualifying draw, and shocked No. 1 qualifying seed Arthur Cazaux in the final round to book his spot in the main draw.
- With a combined age above 73, this will be the men's singles match with the oldest combined age in the fourth round of the US Open in the Open Era, ahead of Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe in the 1974 semifinals and Federer and Kohlschreiber in the 2017 fourth round.
- Djokovic currently leads their head-to-head 7-0, most recently defeating the German at the 2021 Davis Cup Finals. The Serb has won all but one of their meetings in straight-sets, with their only four-set battle taking place at the 2020 Australian Open.
- "It's fantastic how good he's playing. He shows us all that you can play tennis, and very, very good tennis at his age," Struff said about his next opponent. "Playing Novak [will] be very tough."
