Novak Djokovic considers his thrilling quarter-final win against Alexander Zverev at the China Open to be one of the big highlights of his 2026 season so far.
The 39-year-old Serbian produced a trademark display packed with resilience and skill to overhaul Zverev and earn a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory on Sunday night in Beijing. Reflecting on his impressive last-eight triumph at the ATP 500 event, Djokovic rated it as his best performance of the year, alongside only one other.
“This is probably one of the two best matches that I played this year, next to the one against [Jannik] Sinner in the semis of Australian Open,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference after downing Roland Garros and US Open titlist Zverev. “Just obviously very thrilled to win against probably the best player in the world at the moment.
“Sascha has been on the row playing incredible tennis, particularly the last couple of months with his US Open win. He's always been a top player… With a great confidence that he's got, with the big serving, it's such a difficult task to play against him because he puts a lot of pressure on your service games when he's so consistent and precise and powerful in his service games.”
Djokovic is now 17-7 for the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. His progress this year has been hampered at times by physical struggles, but he feels his body is holding up well in Beijing after pulling through three-setters against Buyunchaokete and Zverev across his previous two rounds.
“I wish I had an extra day off to really enjoy the time, enjoy the win, but no time,” Djokovic said ahead of his Monday semi-final showdown with Daniil Medvedev. “I'm already thinking what I need to do to recover, get a good night's sleep. I know it is going to be a late night again and I'm coming back tomorrow. Now it's every single day you have to play. But that's okay.
“I felt physically pretty good a few days ago and tonight. The late finishes I had, almost three hours both of my matches, last two matches I played. But I feel okay. That cannot be better news for me, to be honest, because that wasn't the case for most of the year. So I'm just thinking about tomorrow's match, tomorrow's opponent. Amazing win tonight, but the tournament is not finished.”
The 101-time tour-level titlist Djokovic is confident he can take the challenge to Medvedev, who he leads 10-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“I'm really happy with myself and proud of the effort [so far],” Djokovic said. “As I said, the feeling overall is really good. Of course, when you're playing this well, then confidence is higher, then you kind of forget about all the issues and challenges, and you just keep on moving. I'm hoping I can back that up day in, day out. I still have to come out tomorrow night fresh, as fresh as I possibly can be.
“What awaits me is another extremely difficult opponent who is on a role: Medvedev. I know his game really well. He won a tournament last week. He's loving the kind of conditions in China. It's no surprise. I'll have to come up with another great performance if I want to have a chance to win.”
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