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In a memorable match this week at the Cincinnati Masters 1000, played in the searing heat and lasting just short of four hours, Novak Djokovic, aged 36, beat the 20 year old Spaniard and

current Wimbledon Champion Carlos Alcaraz, by 5-7 7-6(7) 7-6(4). Djokovic battled against high temperatures and humidity and a powerful opponent sixteen years his junior to take his 95th ATP

title. At the end of the match he did his Incredible Hulk act — and the crowd loved it. For most of the match, this seemed a highly unlikely outcome. Alcaraz won the first set and led by a

service break for 4-2 in the second. Djokovic was red-faced and breathing heavily. Until this moment, he had only played night matches and this was a shock to his system. Doctors and physios

came onto court to take his blood pressure and stick an oximeter on his finger. He pressed an ice pack forcefully to his temples. He looked a goner. It seemed unlikely that he would even be

able to finish the match. But Djoko is famous for playing possum — and almost every time, his opponents fall for it. It’s hard to know what to do against a sub-par opponent. Do you drop

shot him to death or do you feel sorry for him? Many players get confused by the situation and make the mistake of changing their tactics. Carlos’ game fell apart over the next few games,

Novak miraculously raised his level and eked out the second set. And then he somehow managed to pull off an incredible victory in a final set tiebreak. Once the Spaniard had picked up his

game, that final set produced sensational shotmaking and the result was on a knife edge until the last point. This was sweet revenge for Novak who had lost to the Spaniard in a similarly

tight encounter at Wimbledon last month. With Federer retiring and Nadal injured, Djokovic appeared to be pulling away from the rest of the field with no apparent challenger. The game was

losing its bite. Until Alcaraz came along. We now have a delicious rivalry that Djokovic is clearly relishing. He must be wondering how long he can hold off his young opponent, but he’s

doing a damn good job of it so far. This was a great curtain raiser for next week’s US Open in New York. With those two players seeded numbers one and two in opposite halves of the draw,

most fans will surely be longing for a rematch, hoping that these two face one another again in the final. Zverev, Medvedev and Tsitsipas were supposed to be the nextgen post the “big

three”. Out of those, only Medvedev has taken a Grand Slam title, at the US Open in 2021, and they must be somewhat peeved at the fact that they are likely to be overtaken by another,

younger, “big three” – Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. Cincinnati may not be a Slam but this was clearly a huge victory for Novak. On winning the final point he collapsed onto

his back, then got to his feet, paraded around the court, let out a victory roar and ripped his shirt open à la Incredible Hulk. He’s not done that for a very long time. Incidentally, one

wonders what the general reaction would have been to a woman ripping her shirt open on winning a match. One imagines there would be an outcry. At the US Open in 2018,  Alize Cornet came onto

the court and realised her shirt was on the wrong way round. She asked the umpire if she could leave the court to change it — but he wouldn’t allow it. So she went to the back of the court,

faced away from the crowd, whipped it off and turned it round. For this she got an official warning. Is a woman in a sports bra so offensive? The official take after that absurdity was that

women were finally permitted to change their shirts on changeovers “as long as they did it sitting down”. I’ve not actually seen any of them do so. After all, they would probably fear wolf

whistles from the crowd and salacious media comments and photos. But really! Talk about double standards. Back to the upcoming US Open which starts next Monday. Personally, I also long for a

rematch between Djokovic and Alcaraz, except they both need to get through six gruelling best-of-five set rounds over the fortnight, so it’s not a given. One of the other new young guns may

just rise to the occasion. It all promises to be very interesting. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an important

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