Sports
Alcaraz vs. Djokovic at the US Open: How each can win
NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic knows the world is expecting another final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday at the US Open.
And even he — the man with the most major titles in history and someone who spent 428 weeks atop the rankings — believes them to be the best two players in the world. He has spoken openly about how important the duo is for the sport and its future.
But despite all that, the 38-year-old Djokovic isn’t quite ready to pass the baton yet.
“Everybody is probably expecting and anticipating the finals between two of them,” Djokovic said following his quarterfinal victory over Taylor Fritz on Tuesday. “I’m going to try to, you know, mess up the plans of most of the people.”
Djokovic will have his chance to do just that Friday as he takes on 22-year-old Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, in an eagerly anticipated semifinal match. The winner will face either the top-ranked Sinner or No. 25 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who also play Friday, in Sunday’s final. Alcaraz and Sinner have played against each other in the previous two Slam finals, at Wimbledon and the French Open, and have combined to win the last seven major titles.
Friday will mark the ninth career meeting between Djokovic and Alcaraz, with Djokovic holding a 5-3 edge, and with the two most recent victories. But, even with that history, Alcaraz is still favored to win the match.
For both players, there’s a lot on the line. Djokovic is hoping to keep his dream alive of winning his 25th major Slam title, which would break a tie for the most all time with Margaret Court, and Alcaraz would like to reach his third consecutive major final and potentially win the sixth of his career.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Friday’s semifinal.
Can Djokovic do it?
Djokovic has a few things going for him. First, he’s never lost to Alcaraz on hard court. Their last meeting, in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open to start the year, saw Djokovic force a comeback — after sustaining a leg injury early and dropping the opening set — behind powerful groundstrokes, strong defense and vintage movement that seemed to get better and better as the match progressed.
Alcaraz later admitted that Djokovic’s injury caused him to lose his focus slightly, and Djokovic credited his vast career experience in helping him overcome the hindrance and any distraction.
Throughout the US Open, Djokovic has been pushed to four sets in three of his five matches, including during his 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Fritz on Tuesday. He’s had some injury scares, of varying degrees of severity, throughout the tournament and the season, and he was grateful to have the extra off day ahead of the semifinal showdown. He’s likely going to need it. Through the semifinals, Djokovic has spent almost 3½ more hours on court than his younger opponent.
“I’m going to try to take one day at a time, really take care of my body, try to relax and recover,” Djokovic said in the early morning hours on Wednesday. “The next couple of days is really key for me to really get my body in shape and ready to battle five sets if it’s needed.
“I just would really love that, would love to be fit enough to play — and to play potentially five sets with Carlos. I know that my best tennis is going to be required, but I’d rise to the occasion.”
He admitted he wasn’t feeling “very fresh at the moment” in his news conference after the quarterfinals but was hopeful. He also was confident in his ability to “grind,” as he had done against Fritz, and find an extra gear at the most crucial moments. “You just have to play with your heart and fight,” he said. “That’s what really gave me the win in the end.”
Although not quite in his prime form, Djokovic has shown himself to be a formidable foe for Father Time throughout his run in New York. He has moved around the court with ease and has been buoyed by his strong serving throughout. He’s been victorious in 92% of his service games and had 57 aces. Not to mention, he’s also won an impressive 33% of his return games.
“I think he always serves well, like, on his first serves,” Fritz said on Tuesday night. “He hits his spots well. He gets a good amount of free points and aces … I think what’s made it tough in the past is how much variance there is in his second serve.”
Djokovic’s third-round opponent, Cameron Norrie, who he had played six times previously, was equally effusive in his praise.
“He served incredibly well, maybe the best he’s ever served against me,” Norrie said. “I was really impressed with that.”
OK, but Alcaraz is still the favorite to win the match, right?
Yes. There has been no one more dominant throughout the fortnight than Alcaraz. Arriving in New York having just won the title in Cincinnati, he was the only man to reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set and he’s faced just one tiebreak in his five matches. He’s been virtually unstoppable, even against high quality opponents.
Jiri Lehecka, the tournament’s No. 20 seed who Alcaraz defeated in the quarterfinals in under two hours, said Alcaraz — or the “Grand Slam version of Carlos” — simply did everything better when it mattered most.
“If you want to beat him, you need to win at least a few of the big points, and he won all of them,” Lehecka said on Tuesday. “Even when I played a really good rally, even when I tried to put him under pressure, go to the net, change the rhythm, do something, he was there, and he had an answer for everything I tried.”
And if all that weren’t enough, Alcaraz has won an astounding 99% of his service games — all but one — in New York. He told reporters his serve had been his primary focus for improvement in the past year and credited that, and his consistency with it, for his recent results.
“Tennis, it’s really hard sometimes, because one day you can serve really, really well, and the next match you can feel completely different and really bad,” he said after defeating Lehecka. “So I’m trying to maintain the focus on the serve, just trying to do everything the same and getting the good feeling.”
Alcaraz said he knew Djokovic was “hungry” and had an “ambition for more” when thinking ahead to their (then potential) clash, but said he had his own motivation: revenge. “Obviously,” he said Tuesday, while alluding to their previous matches.
So, who will win this match?
One thing is for certain: Both players will be bringing their best level and an unwavering desire to advance to Sunday’s final.
Djokovic has beaten Alcaraz on this surface at a Grand Slam this season, so he knows exactly what he needs to do in order to get it done again. Most importantly, he believes he can do it. He also is acutely aware of the ticking clock on his career, and that he only has limited chances remaining to achieve his dream for 25.
But whether or not that will be motivating or debilitating in a high-pressure situation remains to be seen after a string of semifinal exits. Djokovic also knows that the longer the match goes, the more it favors the younger, and fresher, Alcaraz, so he will need to come out strong from the first point.
Alcaraz doesn’t have any of that same weight on his shoulders. But what he does have is confidence, and a game that is clicking on all cylinders. He hasn’t faced much adversity throughout his run, but if he can handle those moments, if and when they arise, and remain locked in, it certainly feels like this is his match to win.
Prediction: Alcaraz in four sets.
Sports
Pakistan to tour West Indies for two-match Test series
Pakistan men’s cricket team is scheduled to visit West Indies for a two-match Test series in July and August of next year, confirmed Cricket West Indies (CWI) Vice President Azim Bassarath.
Bassarath, who also serves as Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) President, made the announcement during the body’s executive luncheon at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain on Wednesday.
He shared that the Green Shirts’ tour of the West Indies will run from July 15 to August 7, comprising two ICC World Test Championship (WTC) matches at Queen’s Park Oval and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA), respectively, with the latter also set to host a four-day warm-up match.
“We will also host the Pakistan tour of the Caribbean from July 15-August 7, 2026, comprising the four-day warm-up match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA), the first Test match at the Queen’s Park Oval and the second Test at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy,” Bassarath said, during his speech at the function.
“I’m pleased to note that the BLCA will now be a fully accredited international venue capable of hosting matches in all formats,” he added.
Notably, the red-ball tour of the West Indies is in accordance with Pakistan’s Future Tour Programme (FTP), while the complete match schedule is yet to be finalised.
Earlier this year, Pakistan visited the West Indies for a three-match ODI and T20I series each, while the most recent Test series between the two played in January was drawn 1-1.
Meanwhile, Pakistan last toured the West Indies for a Test series in 2021, which also ended in a 1-1 draw.
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UWCL grades for all 18 teams: Leuven get A+; Barça an A-, PSG fail
The first 18-team UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage is over! We’ve had six matchdays across a single league-phase table, as well as tons of the world’s best players on show, but now we’re down to the final 12 sides.
How did everything go for the teams involved? It’s safe to say that it didn’t go to plan for everyone, and our grades reflect that.
OH LEUVEN (A+)
They might have only finished 12th, but sealing a spot in the knockout-phase playoffs would have been beyond the Belgian minnows’ wildest dreams in their first-ever UWCL tournament. A win over FC Twente and draws with PSG, Paris FC and Roma set them up for success. They even managed to keep Barcelona and Arsenal to only three goals.
MANCHESTER UNITED (A)
A debut UWCL campaign for United, and what a debut it was. Three tight wins from their first three games against Valerenga, Atletico and PSG set up them for success, and a 1-0 win over Juventus on the final day meant that defeats to Wolfsburg and OL Lyonnes didn’t matter too much. A paper-thin squad was able to seal a favorable playoff draw by finishing sixth, and that is some achievement.
BARCELONA (A-)
They topped the table, which was entirely expected given their 7-1 thrashing of Bayern on matchday 1, and a goal difference of plus-17 from their five wins showed their superiority. But a 1-1 draw with Chelsea suggests they could be vulnerable as the tournament goes on, and they are going to have to find a way to cope without injured star midfielders Patri and Aitana Bonmati.
OL LYONNES (A-)
The star power of OL Lyonnes has shone brightly with an average of three goals per game, and five wins from six. But they did need to come back from 3-0 down at halftime to Juventus to secure a 3-3 draw, so they’ve not had everything their own way. They are certainly one of the favorites to go all the way to the final.
CHELSEA (B+)
In true Chelsea style, anything less than 100% isn’t good enough, so two draws (against FC Twente and Barcelona) have marked them down in the grades. Otherwise, they scored 16 goals against Paris FC, St. Pölten and Roma, before a 2-1 comeback win against Wolfsburg sealed their spot in the top four on the final day.
BAYERN MUNICH (B+)
A 7-1 hammering at the hands of Barcelona suggested that this would be a tough campaign, but Bayern turned things around to beat Juventus, Arsenal (with a superb comeback), PSG and Valerenga. Even a 2-2 draw against Atlético Madrid couldn’t halt their progress. They will be tough opponents for anyone.
ARSENAL (B-)
The defending champions haven’t looked great. They squeezed into the top half of the knockout-phase playoff draw by virtue of other teams’ failures, but it was a shock that they didn’t qualify automatically after lackluster defeats to OL Lyonnes and Bayern Munich. They did well to overcome Real Madrid 2-1 to avoid a worse fate, but were also lucky to play the lower-ranked OH Leuven, Benfica and FC Twente to get some much-needed points on the board.
VALARENGA (B-)
They fought for playoff qualification all the way to final matchday, which wouldn’t have been on the cards at the start. A win over Roma was the Norwegian side’s crowning glory, while they threw away a 2-0 lead over St. Pölten (ending in a 2-2 draw), and narrowly lost to Man United, Wolfsburg and Paris FC, before losing 3-0 to Bayern on the final day. But for that draw with St. Pölten, they could have gone through.
TWENTE (C+)
A shock 1-1 draw with Chelsea on matchday 1 could have set the tone, but they suffered a 2-1 loss to Leuven in the next game, and that about sums things up. Two draws (the other came against Benfica) wasn’t enough to avoid elimination before they nearly beatReal Madrid in the final game but drew 1-1.
REAL MADRID (C+)
All looked good for Madrid after a 6-2 thrashing of Roma in the first game and a 2-1 win over PSG in the second. They stuttered with a 1-1 draw to Paris FC, before losing to Arsenal, but then things turned around against with a win over Wolfsburg on matchday 5. That meant all they needed to do was beat lowly Twente to seal an automatic spot. But they drew 1-1, and now face a tough knockout draw.
JUVENTUS (C)
Juve didn’t make it out of the group stage last season behind Arsenal and Bayern, and they were too inconsistent again. They beat who they needed to beat: Benfica, St. Pölten and Atletico. And they almost did enough to beat Bayern (2-1 defeat, thanks to a stoppage-time goal), and OL Lyonnes (3-3 draw, having gone 3-0 up). But when it mattered, they lost 1-0 at home to Manchester United on the final day and failed to seal an automatic spot.
WOLFSBURG (C)
The two-time champions and four-time runners-up are looking to get back to the top of the game, but on the evidence of a 3-1 defeat to OL Lyonnes and 2-1 loss to Chelsea, they’re not there yet. Wins over PSG, Valerenga and Man United were routine, but they really messed up by losing 2-0 to Real Madrid. Having been expected to seal an automatic place after matchday four, they now have an unfavorable spot in the playoffs after finishing ninth, though nobody will want to face them.
PARIS FC (C)
They did better than their local rivals PSG, but it was a very middling performance from the Parisian club. An opening 2-2 draw at home to OH Leuven, 4-0 loss to Chelsea and 2-0 defeat to Barcelona suggests they won’t trouble too many in the playoffs, though they did hold Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw that required Caroline Weir to score a 98th-minute equalizer, in addition to beating Benfica and Valerenga.
ATLÉTICO MADRID (C)
Defeats to Juventus and Man United, as well as a 2-2 draw to Bayern, saw Atletico struggle at home. But their away form saw them beat FC Twente and St. Pölten, before losing 4-0 to OL Lyonnes, which was enough to seal a lower-half playoff draw. But they won’t be worrying too many opponents.
ST. POLTEN (C)
They finished bottom of the table, but that was pretty much expected. The Swiss minnows managed to pick up a point with a comeback draw at Valerenga, while they stopped OL Lyonnes scoring more than three goals. Sadly, the same can’t be said of the rest and they finished with a disappointing minus-25 goal difference from their six games.
BENFICA (D)
The Portuguese side never really got going after they took an early lead to Juventus in the first game, and fell to four defeats from six. Yes, they had a tough run of games against Juve, Arsenal, Paris FC and Barcelona, but their only points came from draws with FC Twente and PSG.
ROMA (F)
They are top of Serie A, but Roma were very poor in Europe and seem to be missing the spark of former manager Alessandro Spugna. They were hammered by Real Madrid (6-2) and Barcelona (4-0) in their opening games and never recovered. They should have picked up valuable points against Valerenga and OH Leuven, but only managed a draw against the latter, before a 6-0 drubbing to Chelsea saw their hopes of a playoff spot extinguished. A 6-1 win over lowly St. Pölten on the final day meant nothing.
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN (F)
What an awful campaign. Many would have tipped PSG to be pushing for an automatic qualification spot at the top of the table, but instead they lost four of their first four games (to Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Man United and Bayern) before a 0-0 draw with minnows OH Leuven sealed their fate and they could only draw with Benfica on the final day with nothing at stake. They’ve had a lot of squad turnover, but that’s no excuse for this level of performance.
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