Alexander Zverev acknowledged a run of poor form after a surprise third-round defeat at the 2025 US Open, a loss that carried an unwanted historical footnote. The world No 3 fell 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 4-6 to 27th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Zverev arrived in New York following back-to-back semi-final appearances at Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati. He had won his opening matches at Flushing Meadows against Alejandro Tabilo and Jacob Fearnley without dropping a set and held a 6-1 head-to-head lead over Auger-Aliassime prior to the meeting. Despite those markers, the 25-year-old Canadian outplayed the three-time major finalist after Zverev squandered a chance to lead two sets to none.

The defeat made Zverev the first ATP player ranked in the top three to lose in the first week at two successive majors since Rafael Nadal in 2005; Zverev had been beaten in the opening round at Wimbledon last month.

In a press conference with German media, Zverev was blunt about his recent performances and the way he had played in New York. “I think I’ve played badly here for the last two years,” declared the 28-year-old. “Last year, I won my matches, but the matches I won were laborious, they weren’t really pretty, they were won more through hard work than good tennis.

“And as soon as I played against a good player, I think last year it was Taylor in the quarter-finals, this year it was Felix in the third round, I immediately lost the match. To sum it up, I played too passively, but I played too passively because I simply had nothing in my racket, really nothing at all. I have no feel for my forehand, no feel for my backhand, and then I tried to be aggressive a few times and the ball flew somewhere and then that’s just how it is.”

Zverev also confirmed an ongoing back issue that he had mentioned earlier in the tournament but rejected it as the primary cause of the defeat. “Yes, I think the back, well, the back does have something to do with the serve, but I think in general everyone served much softer than they normally do here,” Zverev said. “I think it has something to do with the balls, but that’s not the reason why I lost. I lost because I really played badly, and that’s just the way it is. Yes, the back pain won’t go away until I get an injection. I’ll be getting that at some point. But again, that’s not the reason.”

Novak Djokovic’s plans for retirement have been a recurring subject through much of 2025. Former world No 1 Jim Courier offered a reason why the Serbian may not finish this year, suggesting a final trip to Australia could change his timeline.

Djokovic, 38, has limited his schedule this season, skipping most ATP Tour events and concentrating on Grand Slams. That selective approach delivered strong results: the most successful male player of all-time reached the semi-finals of the first three majors this season despite a lack of match practice. Djokovic has been open about his motivation, saying his career extension is driven by one objective: “to win a 25th Grand Slam title and claim the record for the most major title wins.” He added, “Biological age is not something that I guess you can reverse,” said Djokovic. “I still feel like I have a game left in me, you know to play at the highest level.

“As I said before several times, as long as I have that feeling of really that that level is still alive, I feel like I want to keep going and I want to keep pushing myself to see whether I can have a shot at another Slam.

“I’m asking myself questions, of course, more nowadays than I have ever before in terms of, how long do I want to keep going at this level? How do I want to approach my schedule to kind of extend my career?”

“I might get a little bit more philosophical again when I finish the tournament, but I’ll try to focus on the next challenge here.”

Courier, watching Djokovic beat Jan-Lennard Struff to reach the US Open quarter-finals, pointed to the Australian Open episode last January as a possible reason to continue. He said: “My personal feeling, and it’s not rooted in any facts, just feelings,” said Courier. “My feeling is that Djokovic had such a bad taste in his mouth leaving his most successful tournament when he had to stop playing because he was seriously injured in the semi-finals.

“He played a competitive set against (Alexander) Zverev, lost it and then shook hands. Then he, the ten-time champion, was booed off court and it was Zverev who had to defend his honour in a post-match interview. It was not well done by the crowd.

“So my view is he would want to go back and play Australia at least one more time and get a proper send off. That’s what I want for him. I don’t know if that’s what he wants.

“Can you imagine (Roger) Federer playing at Wimbledon, he had to default and the fans boo him? Can you imagine? The same with (Rafa) Nadal at Roland Garros. “Ten times that Djokovic has won that tournament in Australia. No one is even close. It was wild.”

If Djokovic lifts a 25th major at the US Open final, an immediate retirement announcement would not surprise many. If he loses — whether in the quarter-final to Taylor Fritz, a potential semi against Carlos Alcaraz, or a final with Jannik Sinner — the debate over his next step will only intensify.

Taylor Fritz acknowledged the scale of the task ahead as he prepares to face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the 2025 US Open. Fritz enters the match having lost all 10 previous meetings with Djokovic, results that came between 2019 and 2024. This will be their fourth encounter at a Grand Slam; Djokovic beat Fritz at the Australian Open in 2024 and 2021 and at the US Open in 2023.

Their most recent meeting came at the Shanghai Masters in October last year, where Djokovic prevailed 6-4, 7-6(6) after saving a set point in a decisive second set.

Fritz reached the Flushing Meadows quarter-finals by defeating Emilio Nava, Lloyd Harris, Jerome Kym and Tomas Machac. Djokovic advanced by beating Learner Tien, Zachary Svajda, Cameron Norrie and Jan-Lennard Struff.

After his 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 fourth-round victory over Machac, Fritz put the head-to-head record into context. “I think the thing is, it’s spanned over so many years,” the world No 4 said.

“I think the first, probably like seven or eight times I played him, I wasn’t just a good enough player to have that much of a chance, unless I have like the best day ever and he has a bad day.

“Only the last couple times we’ve played I think I’ve been this, just better player that can, I’d say compete and have chances and last time we played, Shanghai, I had looks, I had set points in the second set, I really probably should have won the second, taken it to a third set.

“But yeah, think what makes it tough is he serves well, he serves aggressive on second serves. It’s tough to take advantage of his serve for how well he also returns and just is from the baseline, he backs it up incredibly well with the serve, so it’s tough to sometimes get on him the way that he’s I guess getting on you with the return.”

The 27-year-old also reflected on how to overturn a one-sided head-to-head. “I think the way to turn around is just to become a better player,” Fritz assessed.

“I think that Coco would probably say the same thing. I think she would probably tell me that she was just better at tennis when she started reversing the head-to-head.

“And for me, in my head I’m not thinking about all the losses I had to Novak when I was like… five years ago. I was nowhere near the level of player that I am now.

“What I’m thinking about, fresh in my mind is when we played at World Tour Finals (2022), that one, and the one in Shanghai last year. In those ones, I served for the set in the World Tour Finals, I had set point serving in Shanghai.

“I know that in the most recent matches we’ve had, there’s been looks and I just haven’t been able to make it happen in the important moments of those matches.

“And that’s what makes the best guys the best guys, is they’re not going to give it to you in those moments. You have to go and take it.”