Carlos Alcaraz shares his biggest Novak Djokovic wish as tennis rivals battle at US Open | Tennis | Sport

But the now the game’s most decorated male player has a new goal. Victory at Flushing Meadows would hand him an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title of his career, taking him above Margaret Court, with whom he currently shares the record.

Alcaraz, 16 years his junior, will be targeting a fifth Slam win at the same venue where he prevailed in 2022. And he’s now candidly admitted he doesn’t want Djokovic to continue his remarkable career success.

“Let’s hope he won’t be able to continue winning more titles,” he said, before implying he expected the icon to be his main challenger in New York. “Let’s wait and see, but hopefully we will be able to continue with this path (of their rivalry).”

Alcaraz has been touted to eventually threaten the Slam haul of Djokovic if he can stay injury free. And he also vowed to keep striving to win more Slam titles, and cited the desire of Djokovic as pivotal to any player who wants to achieve greatness.

“I am 21 years-old and I have already won four Grand Slams but I am hoping it won’t stop here,” he said. “A lot of people are saying that if I have already four, how many I will be able to win in the future, but it won’t count much if you have won four now and that stops and you won’t evolve.

“My task is to keep growing and improving to win as many as possible because that’s my aim. It is what Djokovic has done during his whole career – he always wanted to keep improving when he played these kinds of tournaments, to give his best version.”

Djokovic and Alcaraz are on opposite sides of the US Open draw, meaning they can only meet in the final. Djokovic is yet to win a Slam title in 2024, while Alcaraz is gunning for his third in a row after prevailing at the French Open before his SW19 triumph.

Neither go in as the top seed however, That honour goes to Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, who will play Alcaraz at the semi-final stage if the pair both reach that far.