Boris Becker wishes Novak Djokovic 'will play forever' as star prepares for US Open title bid in New York
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ByEurosport
Updated 23/08/2023 at 10:06 GMT
Novak Djokovic will look to win his 24th Grand Slam singles title in New York when the US Open gets underway on August 28. Standing in his way will be world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The pair played out the longest best-of-three sets final in ATP Tour history at the Cincinnati Open final last Sunday, lasting three hours and 49 minutes. Boris Becker says he wants Djokovic to "play forever".
'One of the toughest matches I've ever played' - Djokovic on epic Cincinnati final win over Alcaraz
Boris Becker says he hopes Novak Djokovic "will play forever" as the Serbian pursues a 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open this month.
Djokovic has already won the Australian Open and French Open this year, but fell to world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final in a five-set thriller at SW19.
Djokovic got his revenge in the Cincinnati Open final last weekend in the pair's first meeting since their London showdown. He saved a championship point as he won the longest best-of-three final in ATP Tour history to claim the 39th Masters title of his career.
After the match, Djokovic described the final as "one of the toughest and most exciting matches” he has ever played.
Becker said "you can't imagine better" than the final they played in Ohio, and he hopes Djokovic is not considering tennis retirement anytime soon.
"I hope Djokovic will play forever," he told Eurosport Germany's Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast.
"These are the duels that make the tennis heart beat faster: the most successful player of all time, Novak Djokovic, against the primus, the best in class, also No. 1 in the world rankings. You can't imagine anything better. It was a fabulous match in Cincinnati."
Becker, who used to coach Djokovic, was also fascinated by the on-court discussions taking place between Alcaraz and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero during the match.
"What I particularly liked at Alcaraz's side was his coach," he said.
"Carlos' coaching for his protege was really good listening after every point. According to the motto, 'is the coach important?' I think this question was answered by this final, and also with Novak the coaches stood up and supported him loudly.
"But that's what you want to see, just this pure emotion and this passion. So both players left their heart on the court."
Becker also spoke about the improvement of his compatriot Alexander Zverev in recent weeks. Zverev was regularly in the top ten of the ATP rankings before a serious ankle injury he picked up in his French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal last year saw him spend several months away from competitive action.
After a slow start to his 2023 season, Zverev won the Hamburg Open in July and went on a winning run at Cincinnati before he was knocked out by Djokovic in the semi-finals.
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Highlights: Djokovic wins Cincinnati title in another classic battle against Alcaraz
Becker hopes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion can play his very best tennis at Flushing Meadows.
"He has found his hard-court form," he said. "The big hope is, of course, if he can bring that to New York. Now I think he has gained enough match practice over the year, he has gained enough self-confidence.
"In this respect, he is being taken very seriously again by the world's top players, and that is a good sign for him. He has now played the tournaments to the end without injury and has actually improved from month to month, and the knot burst in Paris.
"He was okay on grass, I'll call it that, and then he won Hamburg, and I think now he's also back in his head, where he says 'okay, I've done my homework, physically I'm fit'.
"You've addressed his place as number twelve in the world, but what's decisive is that of this year's players he's already in the top eight, and for me that's absolute world class."
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