Novak Djokovic has broken another one of Roger Federer’s records following his quarter-final victory against ninth-seed Taylor Fritz at the US Open.
The 23-time major champion beat American star Fritz 6-1 6-4 6-4 and faces another player from the United States in the last four – world No.47 Ben Shelton.
Djokovic, who already has three more Grand Slam singles titles than retired Swiss great Federer, is now just two wins away from equalling women’s legend Margaret Court for the most major trophies in the history of tennis.
But the 36-year-old’s win over Fritz has seen him take another record off Federer with Djokovic having now made more Grand Slam men’s semi-final appearances than any other player in history with 47.
Djokovic and Federer, along with Rafael Nadal, are considered to be the best three players of all time but the Spaniard’s uncle has appeared to aim a dig at the Serbian by insisting that he is a ‘worse player’ than he was five to 10 years ago.
Toni Nadal’s claim to El Pais comes despite Djokovic’s Grand Slam dominance in the last five years which has seen him win four Australian Open titles.
Djokovic also lifted four consecutive Wimbledon trophies before his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in this year’s final and has won two of the last three French Opens.
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Meanwhile, Djokovic’s semi-final opponent Shelton has claimed that he has an ‘advantage’ heading into their showdown at Flushing Meadows.
‘It’s an advantage with my game style playing someone who’s never played me before,’ Shelton warned Djokovic. ‘I think that I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don’t see in your normal match that you play on the ATP Tour.
‘So I’m definitely going to try to bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on Friday.’
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