Novak Djokovic cruising – literally – into the US Open semifinals

NEW YORK – The questions keep coming about Novak Djokovic’s lack of match play during this US Open.

But there’s no need to be concerned; the world No. 1 isn’t going to forget how to serve or how to play a five-set match, or lose much conditioning in the span of 10 days.

In fact, he considers his blissfully easy road to the semi-finals as the “ideal scenario”.

A highly-anticipated quarter-final clash between Djokovic and longtime friend and rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga never got off the mark Tuesday night as the Frenchman’s left knee acted up on him and, after trying to serve to open the third set after losing the first two 6-3, 6-2, he called it a night.

The first match of the night session featuring unseeded players Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Anastasia Sevastova of Latvia also was a bit of a dud as Sevastova, the biggest surprise in the final eight, rolled her ankle early in the first set. She didn’t retire, but the 6-0, 6-2 victory by Wozniacki was a foregone conclusion.

Djokovic came into this US Open with some concerns about his left wrist, which hampered him in Rio at the Olympics and caused him to pull out of a big tune-up event in Cincinnati the following week. There seem to be a few other niggles as well.

Djokovic dropped one set in defeating Jerzy Janowicz of Poland in the first round, but it was a minor hiccup against a player who has played just a handful of matches all season because of injury.

The second round against big-hitting lefty Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic was a walkover, after a five-setter Vesely played in the first round led to a left arm injury.

The third round against Mikhail Youzhny lasted just six games, as the veteran Russian retired with a left leg injury.

The fourth round dismissal of young Brit Kyle Edmund, who had upset seeded player Richard Gasquet and John Isner en route to the round of 16, was brutish and short – less than two hours.

And then the quarterfinal against Tsonga, who lasted just an hour and a half before he had to stop.

In all, Djokovic has spent just six hours and 26 minutes on court to post five match wins. He’ll only have to play two matches in the next five days to take the US Open.

If you had offered any player that deal before the beginning of the final Grand Slam of the year, with all the wear and tear this Olympic-compacted season has wrought, they’d grab it and run.

Asked it he was concerned that playing a fourth or a fifth set would be “uncharted territory for him in the current sense”, Djokovic quashed that notion as well.

“Not really. I mean, I have played so many times. I was so many times in this particular situation where I had long matches on the road to the semis of a Grand Slam. Also had some Grand Slams where didn't spend too much time on the court,” he said. “It really just depends how you feel, how your season has been, how many matches you have played throughout the year. As I said, this scenario with easy was ideal at this stage.”

In other words, don’t worry about Djokovic; things are going swimmingly.

Asked what he might do differently over the next few days – i.e., practice more, or something – Djokovic again begged to differ.

“Well, I'm not going to practice for three or four hours just to feel that kind of potential for the fifth set scenario. Just keeping the routine as it is,” he said. “At this stage of the tournament and season, I think one of the most important things for a player is this freshness of the mind, of the body, and just having that right supply of substance in your body and the enduring strength that you need, the speed, the alertness.”

His next opponent, Gaël Monfils, is with him.

Djokovic has been pretty muted during this US Open; there are rumblings about some off-court issues that may or may not have affected him at Wimbledon, which he says are resolved now.

But he was pretty loose after the match Tuesday as he joked during an ESPN interview about a “nice chat under the showers” he and Monfils had a lifetime ago, when they were both teenaged qualifiers at a $10,000 Futures event on indoor clay in Bergamo, Italy and met in the quarter-finals. (Monfils won).

He then met and greeted the celebs that showed up for the match, including actors Ben Stiller and Hugh Jackman.

For Tsonga, the news is more sombre. He has had recurring issues with the patella tendon in that left knee for years, possibly a consequence of how heavily he falls on that leg on his serve. He has the Davis Cup semi-finals coming up in just over a week, too.

The irony for Djokovic is that he will meet Monfils in the semi-finals – the brilliant shotmaker who seemingly has had more broken parts and injury issues than anyone near the top of the game.

The 2016 Monfils, who turned 30 last week, is a new-and-improved version. He also has rolled through to the final four without a hitch although not with the same breaks Djokovic has enjoyed. But Monfils hasn’t dropped a set.

His biggest problem is his 0-12 record against the world No. 1, which includes three losses at the Rogers Cup (most recently this year, 6-3, 6-2).

The most dramatic and compelling encounter between the two came 11 long years ago in the first round here in New York – 16 months after that meeting in Bergamo at the very lowest level of professional tennis – when both were just 18.

After all the abbreviated matches at this year’s US Open, to have a repeat of that marathon would be the biggest test Djokovic has had to face, and the true test he says he doesn’t really need before a possible final against No. 2 Andy Murray.

"Ican only wish all of my opponents a speedy recovery. That's all I can do on my end.," Djokovic said.