Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are one round away from a potential U.S. Open quarterfinal contest. They first have to get past unseeded surprises John Millman and Joao Sousa, respectively, on Monday.
John Millman vs. (2) Roger Federer
Millman is through to the fourth round of major for the first time in his career and his reward is what should be an incredible experience but also a brutally tough matchup on Monday at the U.S. Open. He will be going up against Federer for the second time in his career, with the Swiss having won their only previous encounter 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 three years ago on the hard courts of Brisbane. More than three full seasons later, Federer is still flying high at 37 years old. The Swiss already owns one Grand Slam title in 2018 (Australian Open) and his bid for another in New York is underway with straight-set wins over Yoshihito Nishioka, Benoit Paire, and Nick Kyrgios.
Although Millman is in the midst of his best year on tour, his run to the second week could not have been forecasted. The 55th-ranked Australian’s post-Wimbledon swing had included a pair of second-round exits on clay and immediate losses in both Cincinnati and Winston-Salem. Suddenly, though, Millman finds himself playing on Labor Day following defeats of Jenson Brooksby, Fabio Fognini, and Mikhail Kukushkin. The underdog will enjoy himself in this one, but he does not have anything close to the firepower necessary to trouble Federer in the five-time U.S. Open champion’s current form.
Pick: Federer in 3 losing 8-10 games
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(6) Novak Djokovic vs. Joao Sousa
Djokovic and Sousa will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers on Monday. All four of their previous meetings have gone Djokovic’s way and it has been complete domination on every occasion, to the extent that he has taken all 11 of their sets without anything being more competitive than 6-4. They faced each other in the U.S. Open third round in 2013, when the Serb cruised 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.
Turning things around drastically from comeback pains earlier in 2018, Djokovic established himself as the odds-on favorite in Flushing Meadows by winning Wimbledon for the fourth time and capturing a first-ever title at the Cincinnati Masters. The world No. 6 has maintained his high standard with first-week victories over Marton Fucsovics, Tennys Sandgren, and Richard Gasquet. Like Millman, Sousa is also competing in round four of major for the first time in his career. The 68th-ranked Portuguese accomplished the feat by ousting Marcel Granollers, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Lucas Pouille. Sousa is coming off two tough matches while Djokovic raised his level considerably against Gasquet on Saturday night, so everything points to another lopsided affair in this head-to-head matchup.
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 8-10 games
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Truly bizarre.
Commies to the truly great fedfans here. Benny, Kevin, Eugene, abhirf, and others ive forgot to mention Thos site is lucky to have you all. .
It’s late.
That performance was atrocious. Sorry guys, Benny G is pissed. So pissed he’s speaking in third person. Good on ya for that mental strength and overall performance though Millman. He was just better than Fed tonight, which honestly didn’t take much 🙁
Hahahah Millman talking about his fantasy football draft in the post match interview. Love it. #MoreOfAFantasyBasketballGuyMyselfThough
LEGEND
The “tennis fans” are brutal.
Nice guy who just won the biggest match of his career not to mention his greatest payday by far and nothing but quiet when he hits incredible winners and cheers when he double faults.
siclening.
The New York crowd? Honestly, I’m quite capable of that sort of behavior in my own room in front of my tv, but NOT while attending a live match.
I did a little online reading and evidently it was the heat/humidity that got to Federer. He should have stayed with Nike, could have used their new ice vest.
With you there. The NY crowd are quite the worse – although the O2 crowd at the WTF run them a close 2nd
in what way
I don’t think it’s the venue at all.
It’s rabid fedfan religion – in the crowd and media that feeds it.
You always hear from TV commies that the crowd will cheer the underdog because they want to see a longer match. If that was true, then it would happen in Federer matches but it never does – just pure silence when he’s losing and cheering, jeering and disrupting his opponent.
Happens at all slams and other tournaments where Federer is in the draw.
They cheer the underdog against the rest of the top four and other perceived threats like Kyrgios because they are a threat to Federer.
Sickening.
After this Fed is out of race for No 1 this year atleast. He has 2100 points to defend post USO and Rafa has just 1150 types.
I think the fight will be between Novak and Rafa. Whoever between them wins USO will be the No 1 as Novak is stronger on the courts towards end of the year.
My wish
Thiem – choke
Isner take out Delpo
Colic take out Novak 🙂
Just j/k
Anyways Novak is clearly the fav now and must be laughing a good 15 mns after this match.
Looks like Fed made the fatal error of under-estimating his opponent! He should know better at his age😉
Unbelievable. Fed has to be injured, surely? Back,maybe? He was clearly trying to shorten points in the 2nd set, which was the last I saw. Too bad! He didn’t deserve to go out like this!
Sorry, everyone. And yes, Millman seems like a nice guy, grats to him, big win and all, but the Djoker will eat him for breakfast.
Fed said humidity was the problem for him. But he would have won had he taken the second set.
Well, I was at the Ashe last week and attended both daily and night matches. One thing that seemed unbearable to me (and I come from the Mediterranean country) was humidity. I admired players who were able to sustain in the difficult conditions.
Fed was obviously bothered with something. I hate to see him lose like this! Although I did not expect him to beat Novak I thought he would make a hell of the match and would give Nokebhard time.
I am sorry for the great Fedfans here. Please do not despair. Let’s hope it was just the unbearable conditions and not the underlying injury that got Fed tonight! I did not see the match though and will watch later, but judging by the comments here Fed was not himself. Cudos to Milman for the best victory of his career!
Unfortunately Rafa plays night match y’day as well. Tomorrow is predicted to be warmer as well.
I am hearing nights are more humid.
Hello everyone. Didn’t see the match. Woke up during the night at 1:1 and 6:5 in the 3rd set. From that moment couldn’t sleep well. When I checked the score in the morning I had the same feeling as last year when I checked the score Fed vs Delpo in the morning. I was prepared to see him losing and therefore didn’t have a reaction. Humidity or not, these kind of matches happen more often now that Fed is getting older. So, it has more to do with his body than weather conditions.
I was only able to watch through Fed going up a break in the 2nd set. Even then, up a set and a break, I had no confidence that fed would win this. He was serving at 10% 1st serves at one point (during the marathon game that he somehow managed to win early in the 2nd). No way he was going to win serving like that. He also was clearly bothered by the humidity.
All credit to Millman for coming through for the victory. It’s impossible not to like the guy, and honestly, no one can feel sorry for Fed. At least I don’t; he has won more than his share. Even though he wasn’t at his best, I have no problem with him losing to a journeyman like Millman.
At this point I think the writing is on the wall regarding Fed’s age, however. Unless he has some mystery injury (very unlikely), I think it’s just age finally catching up with him. As Agassi said, when it happens, it happens very fast. It’s hard to remember now that Fed had the best ever start to his career this year. In about six months, it’s all fallen apart. We have to enjoy these great players toward the end of their career while we can.
I was only able to watch through Fed going up a break in the 2nd set. Even then, up a set and a break, I had no confidence that fed would win this. He was serving at 10% 1st serves at one point (during the marathon game that he somehow managed to win early in the 2nd). No way he was going to win serving like that. He also was clearly bothered by the humidity.
All credit to Millman for coming through for the victory. It’s impossible not to like the guy, and honestly, no one can feel sorry for Fed. At least I don’t; he has won more than his share. Even though he wasn’t at his best, I have no problem with him losing to a journeyman like Millman.
At this point I think the writing is on the wall regarding Fed’s age, however. Unless he has some mystery injury (very unlikely), I think it’s just age finally catching up with him. As Agassi said, when it happens, it happens very fast. It’s hard to remember now that Fed had the best ever start to his career this year. In about six months, it’s all fallen apart. We have to enjoy these great players toward the end of their career while we can.
I was only able to watch through Fed going up a break in the 2nd set. Even then, up a set and a break, I had no confidence that fed would win this. He was serving at 10% 1st serves at one point (during the marathon game that he somehow managed to win early in the 2nd). No way he was going to win serving like that. He also was clearly bothered by the humidity.
All credit to Millman for coming through for the victory. It’s impossible not to like the guy, and honestly, no one can feel sorry for Fed. At least I don’t; he has won more than his share. Even though he wasn’t at his best, I have no problem with him losing to a journeyman like Millman.
Disappointing for Fed but I’m happy for Millman. Getting into the last eight is a big achievement in itself. He and De Minaur have showed Kyrgios and Tomic how this sh*t’s actually done.
I hope Millman can be at least competitive with Djokovic, but I’m not expecting it. I think he suffered a beatdown at Novak’s hands pretty recently if memory serves.
At this point I think the writing is on the wall regarding Fed’s age. As Agassi said, when it happens, it happens very fast. It’s hard to remember now that Fed had the best ever start to his career just this year. In six months, it has all come crashing down. We have to enjoy these great players toward the end of their career while we can.
Just found out the result. Very sorry fed fans especially Benny,Eugene and Kevin. Fed seems to have been struggling for form for a while now. I take no pleasure whatsoever in finding out he’s lost.
If the humidity got to fed then i am very worried about how rafa is going to deal with it. He suffers far far more than fed does with humidity.
Amy,
Rafa as we all know is bothered by humidity which is way higher during night sessions at USO. However, I was surprised to see him handling it very well this year. I remember Pospisil could hardly breathe during the match with Rafa and although it had to do to a great deal with Rafa’s attritional tennis it’s was also due to difficult conditions. Fed is older and it must have affected him even more…we’ll see how Thiem deals with humidity at night session…
So all the more Rafa needs to play more offensive tennis and shortens points. The more he allows his opponent to hang around, the worse it will be for Rafa physically.
@lucky,
Agreed.
Definitely Rafa should look to shorten the points and we know Thiem likes long rallies and has had success in the past staying in the rallies with Rafa even on clay…
Thanks for that Natashao!
I do worry that the humidity will affect him badly if he gets nervous or under pressure. We all know rafa sweats a lot when nervous even in normal conditions!
Isn’t thiem supposed to be super fit with all his log carrying marine style training??!
I suppose the other side of the coin is that rafa is used to sweating a lot so he must have inbuilt mechanisms to deal with it!
Lucky is right….He has to come out strong and not get caught in a war of attrition!
I just looked up the forecast for New York. At 7 tonight which is when they are scheduled to start the temperature is supposed to be 29c and sunny with light winds and 60% humidity. It is supposed to feel like 37c!!and will be worse on court. Am very worried rafa is going to struggle in these conditions😕
According to The Weather Channel, the temperature feels like 32C/95F (at 8:00 PM):
https://weather.com/en-GB/weather/hourbyhour/l/f892433d7660da170347398eb8e3d722ffdda5b95402d6601289c6ba7c68efdc
Rafa is 2nd on the night schedule so his match will start around 9. Serena/Pliskova starts at 7. So similar to what Fed had last night, probably.
It seems that the weather is the biggest opponent and leveler to the favourites.
Saw Roger’s post match presser and it really just came down to the oppressive heat and humidity. He added that the roof has made the conditions worse with reduced air circulation.
Brutal conditions.
Apparently, Millman trains more in those conditions and almost thrives in them – as he did last night. He held his nerve to close it out but this may have been partially due to Federer’s inability to put any pressure on him as the match wore on.
I think this might be it for Fed. I think he will have tough time winning in AO with Novak back as well. I honestly felt he was lucky this year with scheduling and how draw panned out for him in Australia.
Fed would be hurting that he lost two matches where he was leading by a fair distance in back to back majors. This year there are 3 matches now with IW final as well where he looked winning.
With due respect to Millman, this loss will hurt Fed most as Millman does not have a big game. Fed’s confidence and belief must be all time low now.
Novak’s draw has beautifully panned out.
Have just been reading brad Gilbert ‘s Twitter! Gilbert really gives good value Twitter! He said last night was worse ever he can remember for heat and humidity…and today will be worse! Yikes! Says he is picking Rafa in 4 and that a rafole final is most likely but weather is probably going to create upsets!
Doesn’t the uso have a heat policy? ie why don’t they at least consider closing the roof?! Ashe is supposed to have air conditioning…
It’s an outdoor tourney…they cannot till it rains or temp crosses 40. Australia open closes it aBove 40
only for rain
it does, but not for the roof
Amy it feels 35 to 36 during day with humidity around 50 to 55…at night it feels 28 to 31 with humidity 62 to 68…depends what Rafa prefers now..
I think humidity is the worst for him isn’t it sanju??
Lucky is always saying he is adversely affected by humidity!
Its humidity plus heat. The air could be filled with moisture but with low temperature its not unbearable; however heat plus humidity is the killer.
Mira and myself, we live in tropical countries, our daytime here with heat plus humidity is truly unbearable; at night its still humid but at least cooler so less unbearable.
Btw djkKovic called doctor in 2 of his matches for a chest problem ..what could it be anything he feeling ? Or just some theatrics to unsettle opponent by taking long mtos ?
I don’t think theatrics! Nole doesn’t like the heat…
But heat and chest ?
Do you think if someone is winning, he would call a MTO unless he has a genuine problem.