By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Novak Djokovic will have the chance to extend his Grand Slam record to 25 championship titles when his opening match in the US Open begins on August 27, 2024.
After failing short of doing it on the clay court at Roland Garros, the Serbian superstar is back once again on the Grand Slam stage and will seek to weave his magic in in Queens, New York.
Djokovic will battle Radu Albot of Moldova in his first game, the first Moldovan in the history of the sport to reach a career-high of world no. 39 in the ATP five years ago.
Albot earned his ticker to the main draw of the Grand Slam event via the qualifiers, where he swept all of his matches from August 19 to August 22, 2024.
The Moldovan ace first cracked Javier Barranco Cosano in his first game, followed by a huge win over Luca Van Assche in the second round.
In the final qualifying game, Albot pulled off an impressive three-set victory over Shintaro Mochizuki, to set up the first-round matchup against Djokovic.
Despite being a favorite against Albot, Djokovic knows that anything can happen on a grand slam stage, with a series of upsets already happened in the first round of the US Open during the past years.
Djokovic is coming off a momentum-boosting Paris Olympic gold medal campaign and is seeking to pick up where he left off in the hard court of Queens.
Although a surface change would make Djokovic adjust to the speed and spin of the ball, the man who won the most Grand Slams in the male division already conducted his practice sessions before the main draw.
Other notable stars that will vie for the 2024 US Open title are world no. 1 Jannik Sinner, Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev.
