The doubles team of time and biology is, of course, undefeated. But they don’t win at a consistent pace. Venus Williams can look aged as a 40-year-old and then spry as a 45-year-old—as she did in her three-set loss to Karolína Muchová in the first round at the U.S. Open on Monday night. Now it’s Novak Djokovic’s turn to roll back time.

In search of his 25th career major singles title—pretty much his sole motivator right now, as he concedes—Djokovic did not play a match between Wimbledon and his first rounder at the U.S. Open on Sunday night. When he took the court against California’s Lerner Tien, a player precisely half his age, Djokovic looked more like a man nearing 40 who hadn’t played in six weeks than a legitimate contender. Compounded by a gnarly foot blister, he looked a half-step slow and a few kilos heavier than usual, and twigged together a straight-set win. 

But the operative word is “win.” This is a survive-and-advance business. In his second-round match, Djokovic faced another young American in 22-year-old Zachary Svajda. The 38-year-old once again looked sluggish in the opening set, before shaking off his slow start and claiming the following three sets, and the match, gutting out the win.

Water bottle half full: Djokovic got the opportunity to shake off the tennis equivalent of ring rust and play himself into this tournament—a tournament he has won four times. He now finds himself with an extra day of rest and into the Round of 32, having pushed aside time and biology once again.

More Tennis on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Why a Rusty Novak Djokovic Can Challenge at the U.S. Open.