Boris Becker wishes Novak Djokovic ‘will play forever’ as star prepares for US Open title bid in New York

Boris Becker says he hopes Novak Djokovic “will play forever” as the Serbian pursues a 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open this month.

After the match, Djokovic described the final as “one of the toughest and most exciting matches” he has ever played.

Becker said “you can’t imagine better” than the final they played in Ohio, and he hopes Djokovic is not considering tennis retirement anytime soon.

“These are the duels that make the tennis heart beat faster: the most successful player of all time, Novak Djokovic, against the primus, the best in class, also No. 1 in the world rankings. You can’t imagine anything better. It was a fabulous match in Cincinnati.”

Becker, who used to coach Djokovic, was also fascinated by the on-court discussions taking place between Alcaraz and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero during the match.

“What I particularly liked at Alcaraz’s side was his coach,” he said.

“Carlos’ coaching for his protege was really good listening after every point. According to the motto, ‘is the coach important?’ I think this question was answered by this final, and also with Novak the coaches stood up and supported him loudly.

“But that’s what you want to see, just this pure emotion and this passion. So both players left their heart on the court.”

Becker also spoke about the improvement of his compatriot Alexander Zverev in recent weeks. Zverev was regularly in the top ten of the ATP rankings before a serious ankle injury he picked up in his French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal last year saw him spend several months away from competitive action.

After a slow start to his 2023 season, Zverev won the Hamburg Open in July and went on a winning run at Cincinnati before he was knocked out by Djokovic in the semi-finals.

Becker hopes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion can play his very best tennis at Flushing Meadows.

“He has found his hard-court form,” he said. “The big hope is, of course, if he can bring that to New York. Now I think he has gained enough match practice over the year, he has gained enough self-confidence.

“In this respect, he is being taken very seriously again by the world’s top players, and that is a good sign for him. He has now played the tournaments to the end without injury and has actually improved from month to month, and the knot burst in Paris.

“He was okay on grass, I’ll call it that, and then he won Hamburg, and I think now he’s also back in his head, where he says ‘okay, I’ve done my homework, physically I’m fit’.

“You’ve addressed his place as number twelve in the world, but what’s decisive is that of this year’s players he’s already in the top eight, and for me that’s absolute world class.”