Struggling Djokovic looks for his clinical style of old

The Serbian has been out of sorts at the US Open so far and perhaps he can borrow a page or two from Alcaraz’s book

- Rutvick Mehta

Before this year, Novak Djokovic had never come into the US Open without playing a single tournament after Wimbledon.

Before this year, Carlos Alcaraz had never come into the US Open playing less than two competitive tournaments after Wimbledon.

Both multiple-time Grand Slam winners, lurking in the same half of the draw, tweaked their calendars with a similar objective—tobe fresher for the season-ending Slam. Early indications couldn't have been more contrasting of the altered approaches.

We'll focus on one, for Cincinnati champion Alcaraz has simply carried his momentum to New York and delivered a 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 Round 2 romp of Mattia Bellucci in among his most clinical early round shows at Majors. Clinical is far from the term that would summarize Djokovic’s second-round outing, where he dropped the first set before cashing in on American Zachary Svajda's physical dip fora 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 outcome.