I don't watch much tennis, but Monday evening, Sharon and I watched our neighbor's son play Djokovic in the round of sixteen at the US Open. Jensen Brooksby was a major topic of conversation at dinner on Sunday night.
Djokovic has been on a roll. He won the Australian Open in February, the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July. The last man to go 4 for 4 at the majors was Rod Laver in 1969.
At age 20, Brooksby is the youngest American to make it this far in the tournament since Andy Roddick in 2002. He was ranked 99th in the world.
Brooksby won the first set 6 to 1. With Djokovic serving, they played an epic game at 3 to 1 in the second set: six break chances; nine deuces; 24 points in all; spread out over nearly 20 minutes. Brooksby won, but Djokovic turned around and broke him on the next game. Djokovic wore Brooksby down after that game.
Djokovic ended up winning the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. He moved within three victories of the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men's tennis in 52 years.
One of the more interesting aspects of the match was John McEnroe talking about Brooksby's serve. Throughout the match, McEnroe was very complimentary of Brooksby's game, but very critical of his serve. He said that Brooksby needs to add more than ten miles an hour to his serve to be a top ten player.
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