Second set: *Djokovic 4-6 4-2 Zverev (*denotes next server) Djokovic shakes his head several times between games, then makes an incomprehensible gesture. No idea what that means. A double fault at 30-0 provides Djokovic a point, but Zverev takes the next and wraps up the game on a precise forehand. Second set: Djokovic 4-6 4-1 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Zverev paints the line for a neat winner to make it 15-all. On the next point, a mishit turns into an accidental but perfectly placed drop shot. Djokovic gets to it, but Zverev has the whole court to hit his next shot, and Djokovic does a near-split in a futile effort to get across the court. But Djokovic wraps thing up with a solid point and then a drop shot, net approach and easy volley for the hold. Second set: *Djokovic 4-6 3-1 Zverev (*denotes next server) Fun fact: Both breaks in this match have come on double faults. No such trouble here, as Zverev overcomes one semi-forced error (which isn’t a stat but should be) and holds with little trouble. Second set: Djokovic 4-6 3-0 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Zverev looks rattled on the first two points. Djokovic hits a drop shot yet again to bring Zverev to the net, and Zverev can only loft the ball and tee it up for a Djokovic smash. Next rally -- another drop shot, and Zverev catches up but puts it long. Djokovic holds at love, and the momentum has truly swung. Second set: *Djokovic 4-6 2-0 Zverev (*denotes next server) Djokovic breaks! Zverev finally looks vulnerable on his serve, going to 30-30, and then he he makes a horrible error on an easy cross-court shot, sending it long for Djokovic’s first break point of the match. And ... double fault? Wow. Second set: Djokovic 4-6 1-0 Zverev* (*denotes next server) After alternating the first four points, Zverev winds up for a powerful shot, but it ticks the top of the net and deflects wide. Djokovic then loses yet another second serve for deuce. He wins the next one for game point, but Zverev anticipates Djokovic’s drop shot on the next point and calmly sends it down the line for the winner and another deuce. Djokovic gets advantage again, and Zverev needlessly returns long to let Djokovic hold. Zverev wins the first set End first set: *Djokovic 4-6 0-0 Zverev (*denotes next server) Boom, boom, boom. Zverev wins the first point and hits two straight aces. On the first of three set points, he double-faults, only the fourth point he has lost on his serve. Zverev’s next serve prompts a moon shot from Djokovic that stays in play, and Zverev hits an unforced error off his backhand. Will he lose this chance? Nope. Unforced error on the other side, and Djokovic once again loses the first set. First set: Djokovic 4-5 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Zverev breaks! This match was remarkably quiet for a few games, but Zverev is starting to grunt a bit with his shots. Maybe that helps. He simply outlasts Djokovic in two straight points to get to 40-15. Then a stunner. Djokovic double-faults, and Zverev will be serving for the set. First set: *Djokovic 4-4 Zverev (*denotes next server) Djokovic is such a clever player. After falling behind 30-0, he suckers Zvevev into approaching the net. When they’re close enough that they could be playing table tennis, Djokovic hits a ball at nearly an 80-degree angle for the winner. He gets close to the net again on the next point but hits wide in the very model of an unforced error. Another shot goes wide to give Zverev the hold. Best point of the match so far ... First set: Djokovic 4-3 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Djokovic wins the first two points but drops the next and then deposits a shot into the net to make it 30-30. Will we see our first deuce? Then a spectacular point. After at least 20 shots, Djokovic plays a deft drop shot. Zverev gets there and zips it from one side to the other, an angle that makes Djokovic race the ball. Zverev anticipates that he’ll get there and drops back into perfect position to send Djokovic’s return into acres of open space. Break point. Djokovic then rattles off the next three points, winning one on a drop shot nearly identical to the one at 30-30. This time, Zverev can’t get there. First set: *Djokovic 3-3 Zverev (*denotes next server) Fun stat -- Djokovic has lost all of his second serves in this match. All one of them. Anyway, Zverev holds at love, finishing the game with an ace. First set: Djokovic 3-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server) For the first time, the man serving loses the first point. And Zverev ends a longer rally with a diagonal winner rich with power and placement. 0-30, and now it’s interesting. Djokovic’s next two serves, though, confound Zverev. Then after going wide a couple of times, Djokovic goes down the center line for an ace. He controls the next rally. No deuces yet in this match. First set: *Djokovic 2-2 Zverev (*denotes next server) We may not have mentioned that Zverev is 6-foot-6, a nice advantage on serves. He gets an ace, sandwiched between two serves Djokovic can’t really handle. But he finally drops a long rally, which opens up the prospect of ... never mind, it’s another ace. First set: Djokovic 2-1 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Zverev wins ... a point. The long rallies suit him. The other four points are uneventful. First set: *Djokovic 1-1 Zverev (*denotes next server) A good long baseline rally (17 shots) ends with an unforced error from Djokovic. Zverev then hits a convincing winner. But Djokovic shows off his multifaceted game with a strong shot that pushes Zverev back, followed by a drop shot. Zverev answers with two punishing serves to hold. First set: Djokovic 1-0 Zverev* (*denotes next server) Djokovic opens with an ace, and the challenger wasn’t really in any of the four points. Rod Laver, the last man to win the calendar-year Grand Slam (1969), is in the house. We can only hope he’s sneering about how many more titles he would’ve won with today’s howitzer-level rackets. And we’re off. Djokovic serves first. Also in the meantime, let’s look at major champions going back through this century of dominance by three players ... 2021: Djokovic, Djokovic, Djokovic, tba 2020: Djokovic, Nadal, Dominic Thiem 2019: Djokovic, Nadal, Djokovic, Nadal 2018: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Djokovic 2017: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Nadal 2016: Djokovic, Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka 2015: Djokovic, Wawrinka, Djokovic, Djokovic 2014: Wawrinka, Nadal, Djokovic, Marin Čilić 2013: Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Nadal 2012: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Murray 2011: Djokovic, Nadal, Djokovic, Djokovic 2010: Federer, Nadal, Nadal, Nadal 2009: Nadal, Federer, Federer, Juan Martin del Potro 2008: Djokovic, Nadal, Nadal, Federer 2007: Federer, Nadal, Federer, Federer 2006: Federer, Nadal, Federer, Federer 2005: Marat Safin, Nadal, Federer, Federer 2004: Federer, Gaston Gaudio, Federer, Federer (Federer won his first in 2003.) While we’re waiting, here’s a question to ponder -- we have disc golf and table tennis, so why not disc tennis and table golf? Ah ... we hear now we’re being delayed a bit because President Biden is en route to New York for 9/11 memorials. Should be just a few more minutes. In case you’re wondering why the match hasn’t started after being advertised as 7 p.m. ET ... this is American television. The players aren’t on the court just yet. How they got here ... Zverev had a relatively easy time, challenged only when he dropped a set to Jack Sock. He ripped through the next two, and Sock retired in the fourth. Djokovic has only had one straight-set match. He dropped a tiebreaker in the second set of his opener against 145th-ranked Holger Rune. He dropped the first set in his last three matches, including a 6-1 shocker against Jenson Brooksby. Every other set in his last four matches has been 6-2 or 6-3 to the GOAT candidate. Preamble 2 Greetings everyone. In case you’re unfamiliar with the two players in the second semifinal at the U.S. Open, here’s a quick look: Alexander Zverev is not yet a Grand Slam champion. He reached the final last year at this very tournament and led Dominik Thiem 6-4, 6-2. He won’t want to remember the rest. But he’s ranked fourth in the world. He has 17 tournament wins (plus a couple in doubles). Last year, he also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. This year, he did the same at the French Open. He also won Olympic gold a few weeks ago. To introduce you to his opponent: Novak Djokovic is ... Novak Djokovic. He’s going for a 21st major title and the first calendar-year Grand Slam in 52 years. But he was denied the calendar-year Golden Slam when he lost in Olympic semifinals to ... Alexander Zverev. Time to hand over to Beau for the second men’s semi-final. I’ll leave you with another preview for Saturday’s battle of the teenagers: And here’s a look at Leylah Annie Fernandez’s journey to her first grand slam final. The Canadian is ranked 73rd in the world – 77 places above her opponent on Saturday. Here is Tumaini Carayol on the making of Emma Raducanu, the British qualifier who has made it all the way to the final at her second grand slam ... Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev will be on court in an hour’s time – Beau Dure will be your game-by-game guide. Before then, we’ll take a look ahead to what promises to be an extraordinary women’s final between Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez. Should Djokovic win tonight’s second semi-final, it will ensure the fourth US Open men’s final of the last 25 years featuring top two seeds. The other three all came in the past decade: No 1 Djokovic defated No 2 Nadal in 2011, No 2 Nadal beat No 1 Djokovic in 2013 and No 1 Djokovic overcame No 2 Federer in 2015. For all the talk about Djokovic’s rare air, Medvedev finds himself on the verge of some interesting history as well. Should he win Sunday’s final in straight sets, Medvedev will become only the second US Open men’s champion since Ivan Lendl in 1987 to drop only one set en route to the final. The last US Open men’s champion to win it without dropping a set? That would be Neale Fraser back in 1960, nearly a decade before the majors allowed professionals to compete with amateurs. “I don’t think I played my best today, but I’m really happy to be in the final on Sunday,” says Medvedev in his on-court interview. “He had two set points (in the second set) so the only thing I was thinking is, ‘Don’t make an ace on the line, please.’” Asked about his 2019 US Open final, where he pushed Rafael Nadal to the limit in a five-set thriller, Medvedev says: “Last time it was a crazy match. If it is going to be the same match on Sunday, I just hope I can win this time.” Daniil Medvedev wins 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to reach US Open final! Third set: Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 5-7, 2-6 Medvedev Medvedev races out to 40-15 and a pair of match points. He wastes the first after netting a forehand from he middle of the ccourt, but smashes home an overhead on the second that Auger-Aliassime can hardly get a racket on to close the show after 2hr 4min! Third set: Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 5-7, 2-5 Medvedev* (*denotes next server) Auger-Aliassime goes love-15 down on his serve with his 10th double fault of the afternoon, then 15-30 when Medvedev crushes a blistering forehand passing winner. The Russian is two points from the finish line. But Auger-Aliassime is able to hold from there and Medvedev will be made to serve it out for a spot in the final after the change of ends. Third set: *Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 5-7, 1-5 Medvedev (*denotes next server) Medvedev races out to 40-love before holding comfortabaly and Auger-Aliassime will serve to stay in the tournament.