Google News
Rising Dutch Tallon Griekspoor knew what was at stake when he was playing Jan-Lennard Struff in the US Open first round. Griekspoor ended up upsetting Struff in five sets to reach the US Open second round, where world No.
1 Novak Djokovic was awaiting for him. Griekspoor, who is now enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 89 in the world, stood no chance against Djokovic as the Serb won 6-2 6-3 6-2. "First of all, the win I got against Jan-Lennard Struff [in the first round] was already big.
It was 7-5 in the fifth and I was two sets to one down. I was struggling a bit, Griekspoor told the ATP Tour.
Griekspoor admits Djokovic destroyed him
"You win the match and you shake his hand and realize you're playing Novak two days later.
In the end, it was a night session on Ashe and it was unbelievable. But it wasn't too much fun. He was literally kicking my ass. I couldn't play tennis at all. He showed me why he's one of the best ever. You feel like you can't get a point.
You think that if you go forehand down the line it might work, but the next thing you know you're running to your backhand," Griekspoor explained. Griekspoor didn't beat Djokovic but he still considered it as a victory for him.
"But it was a big win for me to be there. And all the hard work the last few years on the Challenger Tour and the ITFs gave me this reward to play one of the best players on Ashe. I enjoyed it a lot and the stadium and crowd were crazy.
That was an unbelievable week. I think I learned my lesson from that match because I haven't lost again after that. It shows you where you want to go and where you have to improve," Griekspoor added.