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      Dominic Thiem Will Miss the Chance to Defend His U.S. Open Title

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      Out with a wrist injury, Thiem is one of many players on both the men’s and women’s tours who are struggling with injuries ahead of the season’s final Grand Slam.The spectators will be back for the 2021 U.S. Open but the reigning men’s singles champion will not make the journey to the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.Dominic Thiem announced on Wednesday that he would not play again this season because of a lingering right wrist injury that began troubling him in June at the Mallorca Open and also forced him out of Wimbledon.“The past six weeks I’ve been following the medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape before starting to train back on court,” Thiem said in a social media post on Wednesday. “My recovery was going really well, but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again. I went straight to see the doctors. After some tests, they said that my wrist needs more time, so we’ve all agreed on being conservative.”Even without that setback, Thiem’s chance of returning for best-of-five-set matches in New York was a long shot. He has an intense, full-throttle style and takes huge cuts at the ball that produce exceptional spin.Returning to his previous level will be a major challenge. Wrist injuries can bedevil tennis players, keeping great talents like Juan Martin del Potro and Kei Nishikori off tour for extended periods.Thiem’s withdrawal from this year’s U.S. Open is the latest blow to the men’s tournament. The five-time champion Roger Federer withdrew this week shortly after his 40th birthday, announcing that he would undergo a fourth knee surgery. Participation by the four-time champion Rafael Nadal is in doubt because of a recurrence of the left foot condition that first troubled him in his teens.Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 and the only of the so-called Big Three to take part in the Olympics, failed to win a medal in Tokyo and withdrew before the bronze medal mixed doubles match, citing a shoulder injury.Some leading women are also in danger of missing the U.S. Open. Serena Williams has not played on tour since retiring in the first round of Wimbledon last month because of a right hamstring injury. She has yet to confirm whether she will play in New York. No. 13 Simona Halep, a former No. 1, withdrew from the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday because of a torn right adductor muscle. No. 14 Jennifer Brady, an Australian Open finalist this year, retired from her match on Wednesday against Jelena Ostapenko because of a left knee injury.Djokovic will presumably do all he can to make it to New York as he chases the first Grand Slam in men’s singles since Rod Laver did it in 1969. Djokovic has already secured the first three legs of the Grand Slam, winning the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. But the physical and emotional load of playing in the Olympics far from New York or Djokovic’s home base of Monte Carlo, Monaco, could certainly make his U.S. Open challenge more daunting.A new generation is rising, led by Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev. All three have won significant titles, and Zverev just won the Olympic gold medal in singles, defeating Djokovic in the semifinals. But for now, they have been unable to beat Djokovic or any of the Big Three to win a Grand Slam title.Thiem’s best results have traditionally come on clay, and he reached the French Open final in 2018 and 2019. But he has established himself as a multisurface threat, and last year in New York, he managed to prevail in a nervy, five-set U.S. Open final against Zverev in which both combatants often looked overwhelmed by the prospect of winning their first Grand Slam singles title.Thiem managed it by becoming the first player to rally to win from two sets down in a U.S. Open final since Pancho Gonzales in 1949.“We both had it on our rackets,” Thiem said of his friend Zverev.At 27, Thiem became the first currently active player in his 20s to win a men’s Grand Slam singles title, putting an end to the winning streak of the Big Three even if Thiem did not have to face any of them along the way.But instead of getting wings from that breakthrough victory, Thiem has gone in a more earthbound direction, struggling not only with his wrist injury but his motivation during the coronavirus pandemic, which has made travel on tour a psychological burden for many tennis players.Since the 2020 U.S. Open, Thiem has failed to win another tour title and has been unable to advance past the quarterfinals in any of the three major tournaments he has played.He will get no chance to improve on that in New York and for the second straight year, the reigning men’s singles champion will not defend his title. Nadal chose not to make the trip in 2020, and at this stage it also appears unlikely that he will make the trip in 2021. More

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      Roger Federer Faces Knee Surgery, Putting His Future in Doubt

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      The 20-time Grand Slam champion will miss the U.S. Open and undergo his fourth knee surgery since 2016. He will be on crutches and off the tennis court “for many months.”There will be no U.S. Open for Roger Federer this year, and after his announcement on Sunday that he will have yet another knee operation, it is time to question whether he will play tennis on tour again.For now, Federer, one of the greatest athletes of this or any era, does not intend to retire, but after turning 40 last Sunday and after two operations on his right knee in 2020, he is well aware that the odds are heavily against him.He is an optimist, no doubt, long inclined to see the water bottle as half full. He has been successfully fending off retirement (and retirement questions) for more than a decade, but even he looked and sounded glum on Sunday as he described his situation in a post on Instagram, a medium that did not exist when he began playing Grand Slam tournaments in the late 1990s.“I will be on crutches for many weeks and also out of the game for many months,” Federer said. “It’s going to be difficult of course in some ways but at the same time I know it’s the right thing to do. Because I want to be running around later as well again, and I want to give myself a glimmer of hope also to return to the tour in some shape or form. I am realistic, don’t get me wrong. I know how difficult it is at this age right now to do another surgery and try it, but look, I want to be healthy.”For most of his remarkable career, Federer seemed to lead a charmed existence: free of major injury and ennui in a Darwinian sport that can grind down players’ bodies and psyches.Where others saw inconvenience, he saw opportunity: embracing the tour, the competition, the news conferences and the grueling travel even when he and his wife, Mirka, were on the road with their four young children.“All I can tell you after four years of traveling with him is that he was one of the best at not complaining and not letting people know what was going on if he was having physical problems and not using stuff as an excuse,” Paul Annacone, his former coach, said in a telephone interview on Sunday.Federer had to cope with chronic back pain and other ailments as he rose to prominence and stayed there.“He has made it look a lot smoother than it was,” Annacone said.He did not have his first operation of any kind until 2016 when he was 34. After a six-month layoff in the wake of that left knee operation, he roared back in 2017 to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon. In 2018, he ran his total of Grand Slam singles titles to 20, a men’s record, by winning the Australian Open again.For most of his career, Federer seemed to lead a charmed existence, free of major injury.Usa Today Uspw/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBut fortune has not favored him of late. In 2019, he had two championship points on his serve against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final and was unable to convert, losing in five sets.In 2020, he required two operations on his right knee. He missed more than a year of competition, and though the first stage of that forced break coincided with the tour’s pandemic hiatus, he struggled to hit his customary high notes after his return as he competed sporadically.He played five tournaments in 2021 and was able to reach the quarterfinals only at Wimbledon, where he was beaten, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0, last month by Hubert Hurkacz, a talented Polish player who has yet to reach a Grand Slam singles final. If that turns out to be Federer’s final match at the All England Club or his final match on tour, it is far from fitting. But his failure to win so much as a game in the third set on the court where he has won a men’s record eight singles titles was also a sign that something was awry.He confirmed that on Sunday while making it clear that his 2021 season was over.“I hurt myself further during the grass-court season and Wimbledon,” he said. “It’s just not the way to go forward.”He suggested that doctors had told him that surgery was his best option, not just for tennis but for life after tennis.“Unfortunately, they told me for the medium to long term to feel better I will need surgery, so I decided to do it,” he said.Federer did not explain the nature of his surgery or even which knee would require surgery. His agent Tony Godsick did not immediately respond to messages seeking clarification.But Nicholas DiNubile, an American orthopedic surgeon from Philadelphia who specializes in knee surgeries, said that Federer’s timeline — “many weeks” on crutches and “many months” away from the tour — suggested that this could be a more serious operation.“As a knee specialist, I’m certainly concerned,” DiNubile, who has never treated Federer, wrote in an email. “More surgeries are not necessarily better. At this point, he is probably not dealing with simpler things like meniscus tears but rather the arthritis and cushion (articular cartilage) damage that tends to occur over time. If wear and development of arthritis is part of the issue, you can’t fix that with arthroscopic surgery.”DiNubile said “regenerative techniques,” including microfracture surgery, might be tried.“His knee might feel better, but will he be able to compete at the level he would need to, especially in today’s very physical and grueling game with younger and younger opponents with power and unlimited energy?” DiNubile said.Those are tough questions to answer in the affirmative no matter what the precise nature of Federer’s latest injury.Federer and his wife, Mirka, after his most recent Grand Slam victory at the 2018 Australian Open.William West/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesKen Rosewall, the Australian who is the only other man in the Open era to remain in the top 10 after the age of 40, did not have to overcome major medical issues to do so. Rosewall’s primary concern as he remained a contender in the 1970s was his younger, hungry opposition.Federer must solve a more complex equation if he is to chase a more appropriate endgame than a lopsided defeat at Wimbledon.For now, he remains tied with his longtime rivals Djokovic and Rafael Nadal with 20 Grand Slam singles titles. It appears quite possible that the No. 1 ranked Djokovic will be the only one of the three to play at the U.S. Open in New York, which begins Aug. 30. Nadal is struggling with the return of a left foot problem that threatened his career in 2005, a problem he has managed effectively through the years with extensive therapy and a custom-made shoe insole.After losing (and limping) in the Washington tournament this month, Nadal withdrew from the National Bank Open in Toronto and the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio, and returned to Spain for treatment. He has yet to confirm that he will play at the U.S. Open, where he has won four singles titles.Federer, who won his five U.S. Open titles from 2004 to 2008, last played in New York in 2019, losing in the quarterfinals in five sets to Grigor Dimitrov in what could very well turn out to be Federer’s last U.S. Open match.“He’s in good hands,” Annacone said, referring to Federer’s support team. “But at some point we knew Father Time, in some way, shape or form, was going to wrestle the reins out of his hands and Rafa’s and Serena’s. Let’s just hope that all of them can retire on their own terms, not stop because they have to.”Federer celebrating his U.S. Open title victory in 2008, the last time he won the event.Uli Seit for The New York Times More

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      Top Stars in Tennis Choose Rest Ahead of the U.S. Open

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      The year’s final Grand Slam tournament begins in less than three weeks, but players including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have chosen to skip the usual hardcourt warm-up events.As the tennis tours warm up for the U.S. Open in the summer heat of North America, the sport’s most accomplished players will arrive in New York cold.The five active players with the most Grand Slam singles titles to their names — Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams — are missing from both this week’s National Bank Open in Toronto and Montreal, and next week’s Western & Southern Open in the Cincinnati suburbs. The veterans have all played selective schedules this year, but their wholesale absence from the warm-up to the year’s final major tournament, which begins on Aug. 30, is striking.Djokovic, 34, was the only one of the group to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, while Federer, Nadal, and Serena Williams opted out, and Venus Williams’s singles ranking of 112 did not qualify her for the Olympics.Djokovic’s bid for his first gold medal ended in disappointment. After reaching the semifinals in both singles and mixed doubles, Djokovic lost the singles bronze medal match to Pablo Carreño Busta, and pulled out of the mixed doubles bronze medal match citing a left shoulder injury.Djokovic, who will attempt in New York to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the calendar year since 1969, blamed his withdrawal from Cincinnati on fatigue.“I am taking a bit longer to recover and recuperate after quite a taxing journey from Australia to Tokyo,” Djokovic, the Western & Southern defending champion, said. “Sadly, that means I won’t be ready to compete in Cincinnati this year so I’ll turn my focus and attention to U.S. Open and spend some more time with family. See you in New York soon!”Nadal, 35, is the only one of the group to have played a warm-up event in North America. After withdrawing from both Wimbledon and the Olympics with a left foot injury, he played two matches at the Citi Open in Washington, beating Jack Sock before losing to the 50th-ranked Lloyd Harris.Nadal, who has a longstanding foot problem because his navicular bone did not correctly ossify during childhood, was upbeat about his progress after his loss to Harris.“Best news: the foot was better than yesterday,” Nadal said last week. “I was able to move a bit better, so that is very important, especially for me personally, to keep enjoying the sport and keep having energy, believing that important things are possible.”But after further practices in Washington and Toronto, Nadal withdrew from the National Bank Open on Tuesday.“I was suffering, especially in that first match,” Nadal said Tuesday of his play in Washington. “And I was suffering on the practices, too. But you always expect an improvement or you hope to improve, and that’s why I came here. And this improvement didn’t happen, no? So I really believe that I am not able to compete at the level that I need because the foot won’t allow me to move the way that I need.”Federer, who turned 40 on Sunday, cited the knee injury that forced him out of the Olympics in withdrawing from Toronto and Cincinnati.Serena Williams, who turns 40 next month, cited a leg injury on Tuesday in withdrawing from Cincinnati. Her WTA Tour ranking has fallen to 20th.Naomi Osaka, the defending U.S. Open champion, lost her third-round match at the Tokyo Olympics, but planned to play in Cincinnati.Seth Wenig/Associated PressWomen’s tennis has already had several torch-passing moments on the Grand Slam stage, like Naomi Osaka beating Williams in the final of the 2018 U.S. Open and in the semifinals of this year’s Australian Open.Osaka was already on her way to Cincinnati, her agent Stuart Duguid said on Wednesday. Osaka, 23, is the defending champion at the U.S. Open this year.The men, however, have lacked similar transition moments at the sport’s biggest events. When Dominic Thiem won last year’s U.S. Open at 27, he did so without having to face any of the so-called Big Three. Nadal and Federer both missed the tournament, and Djokovic defaulted from his fourth-round match after hitting a lineswoman with a ball. Thiem has been out of competition since June when he suffered an acute right wrist injury at a tournament in Majorca. He posted on Instagram on Wednesday that he was “swapping the splint for my racket again.”Thiem’s U.S. Open win last year remains the only Grand Slam singles championship won by a man born in the 1990s; 17 Grand Slam titles have been won by women born in that decade, with two more won by women born in the 2000s.Asked about the absence of established stars in the wake of Nadal’s withdrawal, the third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas pointed out the problem’s upside.“I think there is room for new stars,” Tsitsipas said after his second-round win in Toronto. “It’s been a lot about them in recent years, and I think now it’s showing that things are changing. We see a different generation of players stepping up and showing what they are capable of.“It’s interesting to have this kind of variation and change of thrones, let’s call it,” Tsitsipas added. “It’s interesting for our game. We, ourselves, we have generated our own team of people and fans that support us, give us love, and are there for us in each single match following us.”One fan seemed plenty excited for Tsitsipas in Toronto, begging “please touch me!” as he reached down toward him.There was no physical contact, but the fan left satisfied. “He smiled at me! He literally smiled!” More

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      Chasing a Grand Slam: It’s Rarer Than You Think

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      Novak Djokovic has claimed this year’s Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon. Only the U.S. Open is left to be won. But no man has achieved a Grand Slam since 1969, and no woman since 1988.Most fans know about the tennis Grand Slam: winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in the same calendar year. More

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      After Serena Williams Is Injured, Wimbledon Defends Court Conditions

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      Slippery grass caused tournament-ending injuries in back-to-back matches, and many stars lost their footing during the first two days of the tournament.WIMBLEDON, England — Matches continued on Centre Court at Wimbledon as rain fell outside on the first two days of the tournament that showcases top stars in an arena considered a cathedral of the sport before thousands of fans. More

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      It’s Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon. Don’t Roll Your Eyes.

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      The fiery star’s march toward history could force his detractors into an uncomfortable position: giving him his due.At first glance, this year’s Wimbledon, returning after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world’s most famed tennis tournament in 2020, looks to be a diminished affair.No Rafael Nadal. After a bruising defeat to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a need to heal.No Naomi Osaka. She announced last week that she would continue her hiatus to care for her mental health.Roger Federer will stride again on Centre Court, but he is nearly 40 and still shaking the rust from an injured knee. As time passes, so do the chances that Serena Williams will make another winning run.But Djokovic will be there, fresh from victory at Roland Garros and taking dead aim at the record books. Winning Wimbledon, which begins next Monday, would give him his 20th major title, tying him at long last with Federer and Nadal. It would also keep alive his quest to win four majors in a single year, the Grand Slam, something not achieved on the men’s side in 52 years.He sits now on the precipice of history, which creates a bind for his many stubborn detractors: Ignore and deride his stirring march, or finally give the fiery and efficient Serb his just due.Here’s why the haters, and those simply unmoved by his ascent, should give Djokovic reconsideration.His minimalist approach redefines tennis mastery.In a sport that breathes aesthetics, that lives on the awe-inspiring flow of points and balletic movement of its most outstanding practitioners, Djokovic’s pared-down approach is as divisive as Rothko’s color blocks.More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesFederer has Rembrandt’s flair: all those baroque swings and gracefully artistic approaches. Nadal’s physical, looping groundstrokes recall a heavyweight boxer’s pounding left hooks.But Djokovic’s game has its beauty. No top player has ever been as flexible, as able, on every surface to twist and bend and turn an outright mad-dash defensive sprint into a sudden attack. More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.He is a minimalist, spare and unencumbered by the need for showy flair. Is there an eye-catching aesthetic to that? You bet.He’s not a robot. He’s Houdini.There are too many slashes at Djokovic on the internet to count. They say he’s a machine. A robot. Nothing more than the world’s most expansive squash wall.Hogwash.Yes, he wins … and wins, and wins. Over the last decade, nobody has done more of that in tennis. But there is nothing predictable about how Djokovic goes about it. There are all-out, percussive beat downs — blurs of brilliance that mix power and defense and deftness — as in his straight-sets demolition of Nadal in the final of the 2019 Australian Open.There are also vivid displays of guts, grit and staying power. His recent Roland Garros title was all about that. But remember, too, the six-hour, five-set marathon against Nadal to win the Australian Open in 2012. And, of course, the comeback from two match points down to nip Federer in the epic Wimbledon final of 2019.Don’t forget 2010 and 2011, when Djokovic twice rose from the ashes to knock off Federer in the semifinals at the U.S. Open, beating back two match points in both cases. In 2011, Djokovic not only came back from two sets down, he saved the first match point he faced with a from-the-heels forehand return that rocketed past his rival and stung the line for a clean winner.Federer promptly wilted, losing every remaining game, drooping off as if disgusted by the audaciousness of his opponent.If you think a profound penchant for Houdini-like escapes is boring, well, maybe you’re beyond convincing.Djokovic’s flaws redeem him.Yes, he can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, his coaches, umpires and peers. At his temperamental nadir, the 2020 U.S. Open, he struck a ball in anger that hit a lineswoman, leading to his default from the tournament.At his most heedless, he tried to hold tournaments last year in Serbia and Croatia during one of the worst periods of the pandemic. The exhibitions were canceled after he and other top players came down with the coronavirus.Djokovic has proved himself all too human in the best, worst and most searching ways. He does not hide from it. Despite the myriad clips of him raging on the court or appearing tone deaf off it — as in April when he said he did not think coronavirus vaccinations should be mandatory on the ATP Tour — his journey has always been public facing.His flaws, and the openness with which he reveals his interior life, make him more interesting than his near-perfect, more restrained peers.Yes, Djokovic can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, umpires and his coaches, as he did during the 2018 U.S. Open. Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWithout him, tennis would be a monotonous duopoly.For years, men’s tennis seemed defined by a single rivalry: Federer versus Nadal. Two great champions, two contrasting styles.Their lasting connection came to define this era of the sport. Then Djokovic barged and bullied his way in. He is the third wheel, different from Federer and Nadal in almost every way, including the fact that he does not hail from well-to-do Switzerland or Spain, but from an Eastern European country many fans cannot find on a map.For his haters, all of this is a bitter pill to swallow, one they must choke down with frequency.Djokovic now holds the upper hand in head-to-head wins over both rivals. Since 2011, he has captured 18 major titles, seven more than Nadal and 14 more than Federer in that span.After winning this year’s Australian Open, a newspaper headline summed up tennis’s uncomfortable truth: Djokovic might be the greatest of them all.If a rested Federer can stir the old grass-court magic, maybe we get the title bout everyone wants: a rematch of the heart-pounding 2019 All England Club final.Novak Djokovic will find himself in a familiar spot, facing a boisterous crowd intent as much on Federer winning as on seeing the Serb crumpled in defeat.Should recent history hold, Djokovic will raise the champion’s trophy again, another rebuke to the holdouts who refuse to embrace one of the most exciting champions in all of sport.Wimbledon diminished? Not quite. More

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      Mackenzie Hughes, Louis Oosthuizen, Russell Henley tied for lead at U.S. Open

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      Mackenzie Hughes, Louis Oosthuizen and Russell Henley are knotted at five under par, but Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm enter Sunday’s final round as threats.SAN DIEGO — There were plenty of intriguing story lines, but little sizzle, in the opening half of the 2021 United States Open. Richard Bland of England, who qualified for the championship by winning his first European Tour event after 477 failed attempts, was tied for the lead with Russell Henley, a PGA Tour veteran whose last tournament victory was four years ago.The spotlight of America’s national golf championship was desperately looking for a familiar face.In the third round on Saturday at Torrey Pines Golf Course, the sport’s headliners finally stepped to the edge of the stage, an experienced, decorated crew that may forecast a star-powered and suspenseful finish to Sunday’s final round.Henley finished the round at five under par overall and remained atop the leaderboard and was tied by another lesser-known player, Mackenzie Hughes of Canada. But with a thrilling 52-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole, Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion from South Africa, also vaulted into a tie for first. Moreover, Rory McIlroy, the five-time major champion, and Bryson DeChambeau, the defending U.S. Open champion, mustered charges that left them two strokes off the lead at three under.Jon Rahm, a prominent pretournament favorite because of his stellar play in the last month, was at two under, as was the resurgent Matthew Wolff, last year’s runner-up in the event, and Scottie Scheffler, another promising young player with several recent top finishes. Not to be overlooked at just four strokes off the lead were last year’s Masters champion Dustin Johnson, who shot a 68 on Saturday, and Collin Morikawa, the winner of the 2020 P.G.A. Championship.“Yeah, it was moving day, I guess,” McIlroy said afterward. “A lot of guys are playing well and getting in the fight. That’s what you have to do in the third round of a major.”McIlroy played his shot from No. 7 on Saturday. He finished the round with a 67.Gregory Bull/Associated PressMcIlroy started slowly on Saturday but had four birdies and a bogey on his final nine to finish with a 67, which was six strokes better than his second-round performance. His late run started when he chipped in from 33 yards at the 12th hole, and it concluded with a nervy downhill two-putt from 62 feet at the par-5 18th hole.Although McIlroy said the biggest shot of his back nine had been a 4-foot bogey putt at the 15th hole.“This is the only tournament in the world where you fist-pump a bogey,” he said. “That putt was huge for momentum — to not give away two strokes.”The superstitious McIlroy also said he was going to eat the same chicken sandwich he had had for the previous five dinners this week at Torrey Pines.“It’s really good, and it’s really working for me,” McIlroy said.DeChambeau had the most error-free day among the leaders, shooting a 68 without making a bogey. DeChambeau’s round could have been better, as he pounded many drives roughly 340 yards. But his approach shots did not consistently find the greens. Still, DeChambeau overpowered the lengthy first and sixth holes to make birdies on each and took advantage of the par-5 13th hole for a third birdie.Most encouraging for DeChambeau was his sharp short game, something he relied on during his victory at last year’s U.S. Open. As much as DeChambeau is known for how far he hits the golf ball, efficient play near the greens, and accurate putting, has usually been the best predictor of his success.As has been the case for the past few weeks, DeChambeau on Saturday was also taunted by fans who shouted “Let’s go, Brooks-y” after many of his swings — a nod to the running feud with his colleague Brooks Koepka.DeChambeau said afterward that he had learned to treat the shouts “as a compliment.”“I’m embracing it — I smile,” he said.DeChambeau prepared to putt on No. 15. He finished the day with a 68.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesKoepka, who like DeChambeau began the day at even par, did not improve his position with three birdies and three bogeys for a 71.Wolff had an erratic day and shot 73 with four bogeys, but after not playing competitively for the last two months, he was satisfied that he remained in the hunt for the championship.“I was a hair off out there at times,” Wolff, 22, said. “But I felt like I grinded pretty good and kept the scores as low as possible to give myself a good chance going into tomorrow.”Henley was one under par on his opening nine holes and held a two-shot lead on the field, an edge he kept when he lofted a shot from a right greenside bunker on the 11th hole and watched his ball bounce once and then disappear in the hole for a birdie.But it was Henley’s last birdie in an even-par round of 71.Hughes caught Henley with a blistering back nine, shooting a four-under 32. He will play in the final group on Sunday, paired with Oosthuizen.“You get goose bumps thinking about it,” Hughes said Saturday evening of the matchup. “I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow. But yeah, I’m going to try and enjoy it lots. You know, it’s where you want to be.”Bland, after his stunning surge in Friday’s second round, seemed calm throughout his opening nine holes on Saturday with an uncomplicated swing that consistently set up par and birdie putts. But some of the magic of his putting stroke was missing. Bland had converted 31 of 31 putts inside 10 feet in the first two rounds. That streak ended on the fifth hole, when he missed an 8-foot par putt and made bogey.Things got worse, with consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes. Bland then left a 7-foot par putt short on the 16th hole, and his 20-foot par putt on the 17th green slid past the right side of the hole. The par-5 18th hole brought a most ignominious ending when Bland’s third shot plunked into the pond fronting the green. That led to a third successive bogey as he finished with a 77 and was one over for the tournament.“That’s the U.S. Open — some days it’s just going to beat you up all day,” Bland said shortly after his round. “And today was my day.” More

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      For Novak Djokovic, Two Down and Two, Maybe Three, to Go

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      He has won the Australian and French Opens, but achieving a Grand Slam won’t be easy. He must successfully defend Wimbledon. Then there’s the U.S. Open. And don’t forget about the Olympics.PARIS — With his 19th career Grand Slam singles title in hand, Novak Djokovic is chasing more tennis milestones unreservedly.No complexes. No playing it cool.“I’ve achieved some things that a lot of people thought it would not be possible for me to achieve,” he said Sunday after winning his second French Open.The odds were stacked against him from the start of his journey. His family were ski racers, not tennis players, and lacked the means to finance his career without considerable sacrifice. He grew up in Serbia in a time of conflict, when Serbia was an international pariah and traveling outside the country was a challenge.He still left home — for the first time at age 12 — and found a path to the top of a brutally competitive global sport. Perhaps more remarkably, he has endured at the top.He first reached No. 1 on July 4, 2011. Nearly 10 years later, he is amid another extended reign at No. 1 and to watch him think on his feet (or fly through the air with his elastic limbs) is to observe a form of tennis genius. His game is not as smooth and artful as Roger Federer’s. His point-by-point tenacity is not as obvious as Rafael Nadal’s. But he is the complete package, with no weaknesses other than an intermittently shaky overhead. He has become the sport’s most steely-eyed competitor, and while watching him ward off danger and big deficits, it is easy to forget that he was once considered a player without staying power, prone to midmatch retirements.Now, he is the one in everybody else’s head, and that could be helpful as he pursues, at the same time, the men’s record for Grand Slam singles titles and a so-called Golden Slam.Djokovic with the French Open’s Coupe des Mousquetaires, his second Grand Slam trophy this year.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesAfter winning in Paris, he is just one major singles title behind Federer and Nadal’s 20. But the chase that will generate bigger buzz is Djokovic’s attempt at age 34 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic singles gold medal in the same calendar year.“He is so amazingly great that it would not surprise me, but it’s a perfect game in progress, so it’s difficult to talk about,” said Brad Gilbert, the coach and ESPN analyst, using a baseball analogy.Steffi Graf is the only player to have completed a Golden Slam. But Djokovic now has a chance to make his own run after winning the Australian Open and the French Open this year.Wimbledon, which starts on June 28 in London, is the next target. The Olympics in Tokyo and the U.S. Open in New York will follow.“Everything is possible,” Djokovic said. “And I did put myself in a good position to go for the Golden Slam, but I was in this position in 2016, as well. It ended up in a third-round loss in Wimbledon.”That defeat was a shock. When Wimbledon began in 2016, Djokovic had won four straight majors, although not in the same calendar year, and had just won the French Open for the first time. But he ran into Sam Querrey in the third round at the All England Club. Querrey, a tall and big-serving American who thrives on grass, upset him in a match that lasted two days because of rain delays.“If Novak is not the best returner of all time, he’s on the very, very short list,” said Craig Boynton, Querrey’s coach at the time, in an interview on Monday. “But from the start of that match, he just couldn’t read Sam’s serve, and Sam was hitting line after line.”Querrey won the first set in a tiebreaker and then rolled through the second set before play was suspended because of darkness. As this year’s French Open proved once more, Djokovic is adept at using off-court breaks to change the flow of a match. Against Querrey, he did the same, returning after a night’s sleep to win the third set but then failed to serve out the fourth. Querrey rallied to finish him off. Djokovic then went into a tailspin from which he did not emerge until the spring of 2018.Djokovic after he defeated Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.Nic Bothma/EPA, via ShutterstockTennis remains a game of momentum. If Djokovic defended his 2019 title at Wimbledon — last year’s tournament was canceled — and lost at the Olympics, he would still have a chance at the Grand Slam heading into the U.S. Open. Only two men have achieved a Grand Slam in singles: Don Budge of the United States in 1938 and Rod Laver of Australia in 1962 and 1969.No man has come close since then, although Serena Williams came within two matches of achieving it in 2015 before being upset in the semifinals of the U.S. Open by Roberta Vinci.“It gets more and more interesting as it builds,” Boynton said of a Grand Slam. “You saw what happened with Serena. She’s human. We’re all human, and so is Novak. I would think he would be able to handle it, but you just never know. You never know what stumbling block is right around the corner. Novak is making it look easy right now, but I’m telling you, it’s just not that easy.”Djokovic actually has not made it look easy over the last two months. He lost early in Monte Carlo and at the first of two tournaments in Belgrade, then fought his way through two tough matches before losing to Nadal in the final of the Italian Open. After winning the second tournament in Belgrade against a low-grade field, he came to Paris feeling better about his game but still had to overcome two-set deficits twice at Roland Garros and also had to play one of the matches of his life to defeat Nadal in a four-set semifinal.Djokovic played a match of his life against Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinal.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThere was also the extended scream he let rip after his quarterfinal victory over Matteo Berrettini that spoke volumes about the state of his inner peace. But Djokovic can change his mood as quickly as he changes directions on a tennis court. He has learned how to turn a negative into a positive, imagining that when fans chant Federer’s or some other opponents’ name they are actually cheering “Novak.”On Sunday, in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic had pockets of support but the majority of the 5,000 fans were pulling for the newcomer. Djokovic still prevailed, draining some of the suspense from his comeback from two sets down by going up a break early in all three of the final sets.Djokovic gave a child who had cheered and coached him a hug and his racket after the final at Roland Garros.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesWhen it was over, he went to the side of the court and spoke with a boy in the front row, embracing him and giving him the racket he had used to close out the victory. “He was in my ear the entire match basically, especially when I was two sets to love down,” Djokovic explained when I asked him about it. “He was actually giving me tactics, as well. He was like, ‘Hold your serve, get an easy first ball, then dictate, go to his backhand.’ He was coaching me literally. I found that very cute, very nice.”Leave it to Djokovic, an expert at blocking out the static and focusing on the essential, to hear one of the few voices in a big crowd wishing him well.That skill could come in handy as he chases history. More