Novak Djokovic altered his schedule at the last moment before his opening US Open match, taking to Arthur Ashe Stadium for a hit shortly before facing Argentina’s Mariano Navone.

The opportunity emerged after Daniil Medvedev’s win over Hugo Gaston, which left a window on the main court at Flushing Meadows before the evening session. Djokovic took advantage of the break, and his appearance on the court so close to match time caught the attention of many observers.

At 39, Djokovic is still chasing his first Grand Slam title since his US Open triumph in 2023, as the pursuit of a record-breaking 25th major goes on. Even so, he has resisted being placed among the tournament’s main favourites, pointing to how late-stage Grand Slam runs have gone over the past three years.

His build-up has not been ideal. Djokovic lost his opening match at the Cincinnati Open against Argentina’s Thiago Agustín Tirante, leaving him with limited preparation for New York. Still, he believes the break gave him valuable time to reset.

“I don’t like early losses anywhere, to be honest, but it gave me time to be prepared for US Open in a most adequate way,” he said.

“I had almost a few weeks, actually two weeks, to really train and get my body and mind into the right state, prepared for what’s coming up.

“So it remains to be seen. If you ask me if I’m prepared, I feel like I am as best as I can be, but it’s different, training [on the one hand] and then getting out on the Arthur Ashe Stadium and playing best-of-five.

“I’m excited and blessed to have another year to go out there and experience probably the most electric and fun night sessions we have in our sport.”

Djokovic also said he should not be seen as one of the leading contenders this year, naming Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton as players he thinks are better placed in New York.

“I think it’s Alcaraz, and I think the other guys, like Shelton, probably are in better shape than I am, but you never know,” said Djokovic.

“YI love playing Grand Slams, and I have proven throughout my career that I’m able to win it and get far in any tournament, even when it comes to Grand Slams, even when I haven’t had too many lead-up matches.

“I always like my chances, best of five, playing night sessions on Arthur Ashe Stadium, there’s nothing like it.”

Roger Federer has again found himself at the center of tennis conversation after his major night on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open was followed by his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. For many supporters, it was further confirmation of why he remains the player they instinctively rank above all others.

That view will always clash with the case for Novak Djokovic, whose numbers are impossible to ignore. Djokovic owns four more Grand Slam titles than Federer, has spent longer at world No 1, and has won more ATP Masters 1000 events than anyone else in the sport.

Yet Federer’s appeal has never been built on statistics alone. For millions, he occupies a place that neither Djokovic nor Rafael Nadal can fully match, even if both have amassed achievements that would make a strong claim in any all-time discussion.

At the start of this century, the men’s game was in transition. Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick were among the leading names, while the closing chapter of the Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi era left tennis waiting for its next defining figure. Federer was long viewed as that player, but his rise was not immediate. In his first five years in Grand Slam tennis, he did not go beyond the quarter-finals in any of the four majors.

Once he won Wimbledon for the first time, everything changed. Over the next four years, Federer collected 11 Grand Slam titles from the 16 he entered, establishing a stretch of dominance that shaped the modern game and built a global following that endured long after.

Nadal drew fierce support as he ended that run and Djokovic arrived with historic ambition and relentless success, but Federer’s elegance still gives him a different kind of reach. As he said in his Amazon documentary earlier this month, Novak Djokovic simply didn’t have any more tennis fans to sweep up when he arrived late to this party.

After Saturday’s emotional Hall of Fame ceremony, the question remains unchanged: one of the greats, certainly, but is he the greatest?

Elena Rybakina is again within reach of the world No 1 ranking, but she says her focus remains firmly on the next match rather than the standings. The Kazakh knows exactly what is required at the US Open, even if she admits she does not monitor the points table closely.

Rybakina first had the chance to move above Aryna Sabalenka after her Australian Open title run earlier in the season. That opportunity slipped away in the second round at the French Open. A similar opening came at Wimbledon, only for her run to end in the third round. Further chances passed at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.

The picture at Flushing Meadows is now more complicated, with Coco Gauff’s Cincinnati title and Jessica Pegula’s runner-up finish turning the race for No 1 into a four-way battle. Rybakina, Sabalenka, Gauff and Pegula all remain involved. Even so, Rybakina controls her own fate. A place in the semi-finals would be enough for her to become the 30th No 1 in WTA history.

Asked how closely she is following the race, the two-time Grand Slam champion said: “I don’t check the ranking exactly or the point situation, but from the media mostly I know what I should get, how the others should play; it’s all the different scenarios.

“But for me, especially now when I had this injury last week, I feel like the most important just to try to stay healthy, play one match at a time because this is not the last tournament of the year.

“Of course, it’s a Grand Slam and you want to do well, but you have plenty of opportunities after and if you’re healthy and you keep on playing. So I’m trying not to think about it at all and just play one match at a time.”

The injury she referred to was the leg problem that forced her to retire from her quarter-final against Iga Swiatek in Cincinnati. She was initially unable to walk and only returned to practice in recent days. Still, she expects to be ready for her first-round match against American wildcard Theo Frodin on Tuesday.

“Well, I didn’t play for a full week and we consulted with different doctors,” she said. “I’ve been doing the recovery and slowly started to go on the court and just a lot of gym.

“It wasn’t easy because we didn’t know exactly how the foot was going to react since it was very painful for me to go and serve during that match in Cincinnati because I wanted to try once more and then for a couple of days it was painful to even walk.

“But after we managed to do everything possible for it to get better and I’m glad how the process is going for now.”

The world No 2 added: I’m quite confident with the decision we are making each day how to practice what to do and, especially, what can happen in the worst-case scenario and so [despite] all these things I feel quite confident, also start feeling better with on the court, moving wise and since I didn’t play the whole week.

“I feel like it’s just a few more days and I should be very fine.”