"He's Always Pushing Me To Limit": Novak Djokovic On World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz

As Novak Djokovic begins his chase for a fourth US Open title, the 23-time Grand Slam champion said World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is bringing the best out of him as the 20-year-old Spaniard has been "pushing him to the limit." The pair faced off in the Western and Southern Open final on Sunday, and it took the Serbian three hours and 49 minutes to win — extending his record — his 39th ATP Masters 1000 crown. The hard-court major US Open will run from August 28 to September 10.

“He's always pushing me to the limit. I think I do to him pretty much the same thing. That's why we produced a memorable final. It was one of the best, most exciting, and most difficult finals I was ever part of in best-of-three, no doubt, throughout my career,”  Djokovic was quoted as saying by ATP.

“That's why I fell on the ground after I won the match because it felt like winning a Grand Slam, to be honest. The amount of exchanges and rallies. It was physically so demanding and gruelling that I felt very exhausted for the next few days," the 23-time major champion said.

Djokovic appeared to be having physical difficulty throughout the dramatic Cincinnati final's first set tiebreaker and the opening moments of the second set. However, the 36-year-old accepted the challenge, saved a match point in the second-set tie-break, and then played his best tennis.

“I love competition. I think the more you find yourself in those particular circumstances where you're experiencing adversity on the court, where things are not maybe moving the right way for you in terms of the performance of that day, in terms of tennis, or mentally you're not feeling your best, that's normally the best possible opportunity for you to grow mentally from that, to learn something.