Taming the GOAT prepares Michael Venus for US Open

There are only a handful of players this year who can say they’ve beat Novak Djokovic, in the build-up to this year’s US Open Michael Venus joined that very select list.

No, Venus hasn’t returned to playing singles. His victory over the player who’s often regarded as the GOAT, came in the first round of doubles at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 tournament in the build-up to the US Open two weeks ago.

Venus and his regular doubles partner Jamie Murray defeated Djokovic and Nikola Cacic 6-4 6-2 on their way to reaching the final.

It was the second time Venus has been on the other side of the net to the winner of 23 grand slams and he got revenge for his previous loss to him in Beijing in 2015.

Djokovic rarely plays doubles, it was just his second match in this form of the game in 2023 and Venus said it was an enjoyable experience to go up against him, although winning the match probably helped with that feeling.

“It was pretty cool,” Venus said. 

“The funny bit is you’re out there warming up and over the PA they’re reading out to the crowd what the players have achieved over their careers.

“They start reeling off all of his achievements and the list just goes on and on. It almost lasted for the whole warm-up with them talking about his achievements.

“It was great to play against him and see him there,” Venus added. 

“But once you get into the match and we start focussing on our plays and what we’re trying to do, then you forget about who you’re playing and you’re just focussed on the point and trying to win it.”

That victory was part of a great tournament in Cincinnati for Venus and Murray as they made it to the final, before losing 6-3 1-6 11-9 to Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni who are both from Argentina.

“It was the deepest we’d gone in one of the Masters, so that was great,” Venus said. 

“Obviously, I would have liked to have gone one step further and won the tournament. But we’ve felt like over the six months we’ve been playing together, we’ve been consistently doing well, but haven’t got over the line [in as Masters 1000].

“We’ve had a few quarterfinal results in some of the bigger tournaments and some super tiebreakers, so it was good to go a bit deeper and show ourselves that what we are doing is right.

“We’ll stick to it and keep working hard. It was good to have a few days off afterwards and refresh, but now we’re up here (in New York) and getting into it to get ready.”

Venus is making his 10th appearance at the US Open and it’s the grand slam where he’s enjoyed the least success, only reaching the third round twice, in 2014 and last year.

Murray has had better success in New York, with the Scot winning the doubles there in 2016.

“It’s obviously a great tournament and you look forward to coming here,” Venus said. 

“I can say that over the years I’ve been disappointed with some of the results here, or would have liked to have done better. 

“But you can’t play well all the time and let’s hope that this year it goes better than the other ones.

“Last year was a good step in the right direction. I achieved some things here that I hadn’t done for quite a while and I felt like I played well here.

“So I have some good memories from there and once you’ve got those things, it’s good to come back to a place.

“Obviously, it’s with a different partner this year, but Jamie has done really well here previously, he’s comfortable and likes these conditions and courts.”

The doubles draw at the US Open begin on Wednesday, which is Thursday New Zealand time.

Venus and Murray are seeded 12 in New York and in the first round play against Aleksandr Nedovyesov from Kazakhstan and Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar.