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Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are more than just opponents. They are like family.

But that does not matter when they are standing across the net. One player wins, the other loses. There is no in between. The athletes both want the same thing, but only one can earn it. That will be no different when Medvedev and Rublev clash inside Arthur Ashe Stadium for a place in the US Open semi-finals on Wednesday.

The two men are fierce competitors. But a certain result or scoreline will not change the fact that Rublev is the godfather of Medvedev’s 11-month-old daughter.

“I think we're really close friends. I think we have a great relationship even if on the court we're big competitors,” Medvedev said. “I think nothing is going to, let's call it, come between us to separate us in real life. We're really close.”

Nearly two decades ago, Medvedev and Rublev were like any pair of juniors competing. They would pull out every trick in the book. They would lob one another from the baseline to try to win. The player losing would often whine, even cry. The other would do everything to keep it that way. What kid likes to lose, anyway?

There is a case to be made that Brad Gilbert is the busiest man at the US Open, and the former World No. 4 would have it no other way.

From the late hours of Monday evening until the early hours of Tuesday morning, Gilbert sat courtside in Arthur Ashe Stadium to call the fourth-round match between Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner for ESPN. He interviewed the winner, Zverev, on court before heading back to his hotel in Queens.

“Last night I got back at let's say 2:25. And I was up at like, 5:15, probably went to sleep at 3:30. I've had probably the least sleep here,” Gilbert told ATPTour.com. “Actually, I was out cold yesterday about 5 p.m. and I got to sleep for about 30 minutes… Then somebody comes, wakes me up, got to go do a hit in the studio. So I get like 30 minutes sometimes during the day.”

Most people on Gilbert’s schedule would be exhausted this deep into the tournament. But the Californian is as fired up as ever.

“I've been on every late match. I'm on last tonight again, but it's okay. There's nothing better than sitting out there watching something like what happened last night,” Gilbert said. “Actually, I don't think I've ever seen a match like last night. That kind of reminds me of a Rocky Balboa movie.

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.”

Novak Djokovic overcame the heat and Taylor Fritz at the US Open on Tuesday to extend his winning streak against Americans to 30.

The Serbian, who now holds a perfect 13-0 record in quarter-finals in New York, last lost to an American in 2016 when Sam Querrey earned a four-set victory at Wimbledon. Competing in the 34 degree heat on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 36-year-old was in no mood to relinquish his streak against Fritz, triumphing 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 8-0 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

"I am drenched in sweat and I saw Taylor changed shirt a couple of times. It was very humid conditions," Djokovic said. "Difficult to play for both players. But it is the same for both players and that is why we train. To try and get ourselves in the best possible condition to deliver. It is not easy, but you have to fight."

World No. 9 Fritz entered his first US Open quarter-final having lost his serve just once all tournament. He was broken six times by Djokovic, however, with the second seed capitalising on the 25-year-old's 55 per cent first-serve percentage to gain control. The second seed hit with deadly precision and depth in the two-hour, 34-minute clash to clinch his 10th consecutive win, having claimed a record-extending 39th ATP Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati last month.

The 36-year-old also battled against the humidity on Arthur Ashe Stadium, frequently using his ice towel and taking in salts during changeovers to maintain his conditioning. Despite spending periods of the match bent over, seemingly dizzy, he still found a high level to reach a record-breaking 47th Grand Slam semi-final.

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.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury moved to within two wins of becoming the first team in the Open Era (since 1968) to capture three consecutive US Open titles on Tuesday when they overcame Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

The American-British team, who have won their past 16 matches together in New York, broke four times to advance after one hour and 42 minutes.

Ram and Salisbury have struggled to find their best level this season, holding a 24-16 record on the year. The third seeds have looked impressive at the hard-court major, though, dropping just one set en route to the last four as they chase their second title of 2023.

They will next play Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski or Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.

[ATP APP]

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

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.

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.

Daniil Medvedev on Monday became the third player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be held in Turin from 12-19 November. The 27-year-old joins Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the season finale.

Medvedev will compete in the year-end championships for the fifth consecutive year after defeating Alex de Minaur to make the US Open quarter-finals. He won the Nitto ATP Finals in 2020 and reached the final in 2021.

The five-time qualifier has earned his place at the Pala Alpitour with a consistent season during which he has lifted five ATP Tour trophies, including two ATP Masters 1000 triumphs.

“After Rome you kind of know I'm probably there. It's just nice to have it official, to kind of know. I can just stay at home and still go to Turin, which is very close from me. Would be a nice trip,” Medvedev joked. “That's a nice feeling to be there that early, probably together with Carlos and Novak. I think that's only second time I’ve qualified that early… Happy to be there fifth time in a row, and hopefully many more.”

From the start of Rotterdam in February, Medvedev won 26 of 27 matches. He earned crowns in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai. After losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells final, he emerged victorious in Miami.

Revenge tasted sweet for Daniil Medvedev on Monday evening at the US Open.

The third seed had lost two consecutive Lexus ATP Head2Head matches to 13th seed Alex de Minaur, including one last month in Toronto. But the 2021 US Open champion flipped the script inside Louis Armstrong Stadium, rallying for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory to reach the quarter-finals of the season’s final major.

The 27-year-old has now reached the last eight at Flushing Meadows in four of his past five appearances. Medvedev will try to make his fourth semi-final in New York when he plays close friend Andrey Rublev, against whom he has won five of seven tour-level clashes. 

With Medvedev's victory, he also qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fifth consecutive year.

De Minaur was in full control after the first set. Medvedev seemed to be out of sorts as he left the humid court to change and then received an inhaler from a tournament doctor. He had hit just three winners to 10 unforced errors in the opening set.

Ben Shelton rocks back and forth before he serves like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to attack. His right foot sits just a toothpick’s width from the baseline. What his opponent is doing to prepare 80 feet away often does not matter.

With his racquet-bearing left hand and ball-holding right hand clasped together, the Shelton machine moves into motion. Three things happen at once — the American calmly tosses the ball into the air, develops his left arm into a ready position with his elbow up and, perhaps most vitally, manouevres his left foot next to his right to build momentum, with both feet pivoting parallel to the baseline.

As the ball floats in the air, Shelton sits into a deep crouch and opens his shoulders, coiling in preparation for an eruption. Time stands still. Right as the ball hits its peak, Shelton soars upwards.

“It's explosive,” said Scott Perelman, a longtime assistant coach at the University of Florida, where Shelton competed for two years. “It's like a rocket shooting up off the ground.”

With both feet in the air, Shelton crushes the ball with devastating effect. Sometimes, he simply pulverises it. On many occasions, he imparts a variety of spin to manipulate the ball however he desires, to whichever target in the box he chooses. On Sunday against Tommy Paul in his fourth-round match, which he won in four sets, the 20-year-old hit two 149 mph serves in one game. The US Open record is 152 mph, struck in 2004 by former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, widely considered one of the best servers in history.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek continued their impressive 2023 season on Monday at the US Open where they defeated Vasil Kirkov and Denis Kudla 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 to reach their eighth tour-level quarter-final of the season.

The Croatian-American team has lifted four trophies together this season, including their first major at Roland Garros. The second seeds overcame a tough battle against Kirkov and Kudla to keep alive their hopes of triumphing in New York, saving one match point at 4-5 in the third set to advance.

They will next play Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski after the ninth seeds beat Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2. Nys and Zielinski clinched their maiden ATP Masters 1000 title together in Rome in May.

[ATP APP]

Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow also advanced, upsetting top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 7-6(2), 6-3. Lammons and Withrow have now won their past seven matches, having clinched their third tour-level crown of the season in Winston-Salem.

Andrey Rublev was pushed once again at the US Open on Monday, but found the answers to see off a spirited challenge from 21-year-old Briton Jack Draper and reach the quarter-finals in New York for the fourth time.

Rublev and Draper went blow for blow throughout their two-hour, 44-minute encounter, before the eighth seed used his big-match experience to pull away and triumph 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The 25-year-old, who earned four-set victories in his second and third-round matches, struck 44 winners and showed good hands to deal with Draper’s swinging lefty serve, improving to 3-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

[ATP APP]

Rublev holds an 0-8 record in major quarter-finals, having also advanced to that stage at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. He will aim to change that record when he meets Daniil Medvedev or Alex de Minaur.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz became just the second man in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach three US Open quarter-finals under the age of 21 on Monday when he moved past Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

The 20-year-old Spaniard dazzled the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd with his thrilling shotmaking, consistently drawing gasps to earn a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win in one hour and 59 minutes against the 22-year-old, who was competing in the fourth round at a major for the first time.

The top seed holds a 15-1 record at the US Open and joins two-time champion Andre Agassi as the second man to reach the last eight at least three times before turning 21. The American achieved the feat from 1988-1990.

[ATP APP]

Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud to lift his maiden major trophy at the hard-court event last year. Aiming to become the first player since Roger Federer in 2008 to successfully defend his crown, the Spaniard will next face Alexander Zverev or Jannik Sinner, who fell to Alcaraz in a five-set thriller at the same stage last year.

Serbian Hamad Medjedovic added another milestone to his rapid rise Sunday on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The 20-year-old collected his third Challenger title of the season by winning the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar in Mallorca, where he downed Frenchman Harold Mayot 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.

“The conditions were really tough and Harold was playing really good, especially after the first set. I’ve known him for a very long time, I knew it was going to be a hard match,” Medjedovic said. “I was feeling pressure in every game that we played. It was a really tough match, it was very windy. I’m really happy that I found my game in the end and closed the match.”

Hamad Medjedovic wins the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar. Credit: Alvaro Diaz

Held at the Rafa Nadal Academy, his Mallorca triumph marks Medjedovic’s fourth Challenger title. His standout season has lifted him to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Jeddah as he aims for maiden qualification to the Next Gen ATP Finals, which showcases the season’s best 21-and-under players.

Not for the first time this season, Novak Djokovic excelled under the gaze of NFL greatness with his fourth-round victory Sunday at the US Open.

In the stands at Flushing Meadows for the Serbian’s 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 triumph against Borna Gojo was NFL legend Aaron Rodgers. The New York Jets quarterback was following in the footsteps of his former on-field rival Tom Brady, who sat in Djokovic’s player box at Roland Garros in June as the Serbian charged to a record 23rd Grand Slam crown.

“It was a pleasure to have Aaron in the stands tonight for the match,” said Djokovic in his post-match press conference in New York. “I'm hoping he enjoyed himself. Obviously him, Tom Brady being in my box for Roland Garros finals and sitting next to my wife, was a huge honour. I have a relationship with Tom for several years. We go back. I have tremendous respect for him.”

Rodgers and Brady are the latest in a string of high-profile athletes from other sports to have watched or met ATP Tour great Djokovic over the years. His friends from other sports also include Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic.

“Zlatan is my favorite football player, no doubt,” said Djokovic. “His Balkan mentality is something that is very familiar to me, let's say, even though maybe it looks weird to the rest of the world. I understand him very, very well, have known him the last 15 years.

Coco Gauff revealed in her post-match press conference Sunday at the US Open that the trash talk has begun between men’s quarter-final opponents Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.

“After my match, Ben and Frances were in the cooldown area, or warmup area, and it was really just cool to see us all there,” Gauff said. “Obviously the conversation, they already started the trash talk. I'm indifferent who wins, but I did say that Frances is a little bit upset because I said Ben had the better outfit than him.”

Gauff, who is also in the quarter-finals, is friends with several American players. She admitted she gave Tiafoe an earful about his kit.

"Frances told me at the French Open that he had something crazy planned for the US Open,” Gauff said. “I was like, ‘You're wearing confetti.’ I said Carlos [Alcaraz] looked better. He's going to hate this. Love you, Frances.” 

According to Shelton, the guys have bantered about their outfits, too.

Taylor Fritz continued the American charge at the US Open Sunday night with his fourth consecutive straight-sets win to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open.

The ninth seed defeated #NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last eight in New York for the first time. With his win, three American men (also Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe) have made the last eight at the tournament for the first time since 2005.

"I'm really happy. I feel like from the ground I've been playing good tennis all week. Then I feel like in the second and third sets today, [my] serve started coming together. I feel like how I closed out the match, the last two sets, I feel like my serve started feeling the best it's felt," Fritz said. "Just in time, I feel like everything's coming together."

[BREAK POINT]

One year ago, Fritz suffered a heartbreaking first-round exit at Flushing Meadows to then-World No. 303 Brandon Holt, which was documented on hit Netflix docuseries Break Point. Now he will play 23-time major winner Novak Djokovic for a place in the semi-finals after the Serbian defeated Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo.

Novak Djokovic was in no mood for another US Open five-setter Sunday night, snuffing out a spirited challenge from big-hitting Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his 57th Grand Slam quarter-final.

Two days on from his comeback from two sets down to defeat fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in the third round, Djokovic patiently absorbed an onslaught of baseline body blows from Gojo before advancing to his 13th US Open quarter-final in 17 appearances.

”I knew that Borna had a big game, even though we hadn’t faced each other at the tour level,” Djokovic said. “I was watching him play qualifying and also the last couple of rounds of the main draw and I saw that he has big weapons with his serve and forehand and that he moves pretty well for a big guy. One of the keys to the match was to neutralise his serve, try to reduce the number of aces and winners from that shot.”

Gojo, the strapping 6’ 5” 25-year-old former Wake Forest college player, came out swinging for the fences and had an early break in the second set. But his high-risk approach did not deliver the big returns he sought as he was undone by 40 unforced errors, including 15 in the first set alone.

Nothing better illustrated the volatile nature of Gojo’s match play than the third game of the second set, when the 2018 NCAA singles finalist endeavoured to consolidate his first break of serve at 2-0. Gojo saved his first break point with a bone-crushing down-the-line backhand winner that Djokovic didn’t see coming, but then threw in consecutive double faults (his fourth and fifth of that game alone!) to drop serve.

Alessandro Petrone vividly remembers a rainy day in Sanremo three years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic. Running along the water was a young Matteo Arnaldi.

“He was running on a road along the sea under the rain. I thought, 'Wow, this guy is amazing. He's running under the rain in the COVID times,'” Petrone told ATPTour.com. “I think he really has something special, so that's what gave me the trust in him.”

Petrone has coached Arnaldi since 2021. Now they are enjoying the best week of their partnership, as the 22-year-old is into the fourth round of a major for the first time at the US Open. The Italian will next play top seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

“I think Carlos has reached a very high standard of play. So for sure, he will play amazing, he will be very focussed. Of course it's the second week of the US Open, so it's not the first round. Maybe sometimes some of the top players at the beginning of the tournament can be not distracted, but more relaxed in some way,” Petrone said. “I think the most important [is how] Matteo will play.”

[BREAK POINT]