On Day 8 at the 2021 US Open, can Novak Djokovic, Karolina Pliskova and Iga Swiatek avoid the upset bug? Plus: How Taco Bell is fueling Oscar Otte's improbable run. USOpen.org previews Day 8. Happy Labor Day to everyone in the U.S.!
1. Against Djokovic, American Brooksby brings belief
Upsets have been everywhere in the 2021 US Open. But the most-favored player of all is still standing. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic looks to move to 11-0 against Americans at the US Open when he faces 20-year-old American Jenson Brooksby to start the evening session in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Djokovic is now just four wins away from the elusive calendar-year Grand Slam. But it could take him some time to get used to Brooksby’s unorthodox game, including his two-handed backhand slice.
Brooksby, No. 99, is trying to become the lowest-ranked player to beat a world No. 1 at the US Open since the ATP rankings began in 1973. The 20-year-old could become the youngest American man to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Andy Roddick (20) at the 2003 Wimbledon.
Of Djokovic’s nine losses in the past 12 months, two have come to players he was meeting for the first time: Brit Daniel Evans in Monte-Carlo and Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in Vienna.
Brooksby said: “I'll have the best strategy I can going out there against him and I'll believe in what I'm doing, just like any other match.”
2. Iga Swiatek, model of consistency
Poland’s Iga Swiatek might just win the 2021 US Open. But if not, she’s already achieved a WTA first for 2021 in Flushing Meadows.
The 2020 French Open champion is the only women’s singles player to reach the fourth round at all four major championships this season. “It shows that really I am going the right path,” she said.
The seventh-seeded Swiatek will try to reach her first US Open quarterfinal and second Grand Slam quarterfinal overall against 11th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Bencic is fresh off her Tokyo Olympics gold medal run and has yet to drop a set in New York.
Swiatek won their only prior meeting in straight sets in February in Adelaide.
“In Adelaide I had a great run. Tactically I was super prepared. It gives me a little bit of confidence,” Swiatek said. “But on the other hand, I know that she learned her lesson for sure. I know even in Miami she was watching my matches. For sure she's going to have some different mindset or different ideas for this match.”
3. Rogers, Barty pour on the love
Did you hear about the mutual admiration society meeting that broke out after one of the matches of the 2021 US Open? After American Shelby Rogers upset top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia on Saturday night, the two could hardly stop complimenting each other.
Here’s Barty: “She's one that I respect, one of the most that I respect on tour, and she's an incredible person… It sucks in tennis that there's a winner and loser every single day, but sometimes you don't mind losing to certain people. I think Shelby, in a sense of her personality and her character, she's certainly one of those for me.”
Rogers followed with more praise: “She is one of the most professional people I've ever met in my life, as well as a good person, a funny individual. Just refreshing to see. She's super down-to-Earth. I mean, she is one of my favorite people.
“She's always encouraging to everybody around her. She brings up the energy wherever she goes. I can't say how much respect I have for her and what a great representative she is for women's tennis.”
Here’s to more of that on both tours in 2021 and beyond. Rogers, the last American woman in the singles draw, returns to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon to face 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Great Britain. Rogers will try to reach her second consecutive US Open quarterfinal.
4. Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell: the dinners of champions?
Professional athletes are meticulous about what they put into their bodies, right? They hire teams of trainers and nutritionists to help them eat exactly what will help them when it’s 6-6 in the third… well, kind of.
German qualifier Oscar Otte regularly eats Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell.
“My sister and… her husband, they are obsessed with Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell, and they always force me to go and order as soon as I'm in the States. Actually did it when I came here like the couple of first days. Then I was thinking, ‘Okay, maybe it's a little bit of a lucky charm. So I decided to keep on with that,” Otte explained after his third-round win against Italian Andreas Seppi.
In recent days, he’s stuck with the routine. “I really like it,” he said. But, he clarified, “Just in the evening. Not before the match.”
The 28-year-old, who has played six matches so far (including qualifying) will try to go three-for-three against Italians in New York when he meets sixth seed Matteo Berrettini, 2019 US Open semifinalist. Otte, No. 144, could become the lowest-ranked US Open quarterfinalist since No. 174 Jimmy Connors of the U.S. in 1991.
5. Pliskova looks to ace her way into fourth US Open QF
Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic is a two-time Grand Slam finalist, yet she’s quietly making her way through the 2021 US Open draw. The fourth seed faces 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia for a place in her fourth US Open quarterfinal.
Pliskova, the 2016 US Open finalist and 2021 Wimbledon finalist, leads their head-to-head 6-2 and will try to dominate with her serve, as she has her first three matches. Pliskova has hit 52 aces, only 18 shy of the record 70 Serena Williams hit in 1999 and 2020. Pliskova hit a tournament-record 24 aces in her second-round win.
