NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic believes his tennis is still good enough to compete for a 25th Grand Slam title.
It's his body that has to show it can hold up.
Click to Gallery
Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, returns a shot to Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, leaves the court with a trainer against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, holds his back against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, talks with trainers during the third round match against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, stretches against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Djokovic shook off a back problem early in the match to beat Cam Norrie on Friday night and, at 38, become the oldest man to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open since Jimmy Connors was the same age in 1991.
Djokovic pulled away to win 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3, helped by hitting 18 aces in what he said was his best serving performance of a tournament in which he needed treatment for a blister on his big toe in the first round and for his back in the third.
“The wear and tear on the body all these years is taking a toll, and I’m aware of it, but I’m resisting it,” Djokovic said. “I’m trying to do my best to still be out there competing with the young guys in the highest level.”
The 24-time Grand Slam champion seemed in jeopardy of matching his earliest exit in Flushing Meadows when he needed medical attention near the end of the first set. But he recovered to reach the last 16 of a major for the 69th time, matching Roger Federer for most ever, and will next face German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff.
“It’s just fantastic how good he’s playing,” Struff said. “He shows us all that you can play long tennis and very, very good tennis at his age.”
It was during a point at 5-3 in the first set that Djokovic raised his racket awkwardly to reach a volley and immediately showed signs that all was not well. He began trying to stretch his back between points and barely ran for one ball that Norrie hit toward a corner.
After that, Djokovic indicated to the chair umpire that he wanted a visit from a trainer, and soon was walking to the locker room for a medical timeout, clutching at his lower left back. Djokovic returned to the court soon and held serve to take the opening set.
At the changeover at 2-1 in the second set, Djokovic got a back massage while seated on the sideline and also was given pills by a doctor. He went on to lose that set and get broken in the first game of the third before swinging the match back in his favor.
It's the third time at a Grand Slam tournament this season that Djokovic has been hampered after getting hurt during a match. At the Australian Open in January, he tore a hamstring and was unable to continue after one set of his semifinal against Alexander Zverev.
At Wimbledon in July, Djokovic took an awkward fall in the last game of his quarterfinal victory, tweaking his groin muscle, and while he stayed in the bracket there, he was clearly compromised during a semifinal loss against eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
“It’s frustrating for me, honestly, that I’m not able to feel 100 percent always like I have for 20-plus years,” Djokovic said. “But yeah, I guess the circumstances are quite different and I have to get used to the fact that every match there’s something that might happen as it has been the case this year pretty much every Slam.”
The U.S. Open was Djokovic's first tournament since then and he's had some struggles in each of his first three matches.
“My team wants me to suffer on the court so I can get more minutes of match play,” he joked.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, returns a shot to Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, leaves the court with a trainer against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, holds his back against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, talks with trainers during the third round match against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, stretches against Cameron Norrie, of Great Britain, during the third round of the U.S . Open tennis championships, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of credit card companies are dropping Monday after President Donald Trump threatened moves that could eat into their profits. The rest of Wall Street, meanwhile, was showing only modest signals of concern after tensions ramped to a much higher degree between the White House and the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high as U.S. stocks drifted through mixed trading, while prices for gold and other investments that tend to do well when investors are nervous rose. The value of the U.S. dollar also dipped against other currencies amid some concern that the Fed may have less independence in setting interest rates to keep inflation under control.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 151 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.1%.
Some of the stock market's sharpest drops hit credit card companies, as Synchrony Financial, Capital One Financial and American Express all fell between 5% and 9%. They sank after Trump said he wanted to put a 10% cap on credit card interest rates for a year. Such a move could eat into profits for credit card companies.
But it was a separate move by Trump that was grabbing more attention on Wall Street. Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve’s chair said the U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment over his testimony about renovations at its headquarters.
With an unusual video statement released on Sunday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said his testimony and the renovations are “pretexts” for the threat of criminal charges, which is really “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
The Fed has been locked in a feud with Trump, who has loudly called for lower interest rates that would make borrowing cheaper for U.S. households and companies and could give the economy a kickstart. The Fed did lower its main interest rate three times last year and indicated more cuts may be arriving this year, but it’s moved deliberately enough that Trump has nicknamed Powell “Too Late.”
In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”
The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it the freedom to keep interest rates high when necessary to drive down high inflation, even if it slows the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly reached 4.21%, up from 4.18% late Friday, amid concerns that a less independent Fed could mean higher inflation over the longer term. But it later eased back to 4.18%.
The worries also hit the value of the U.S. dollar, which slipped 0.4% against the euro and 0.4% against the Swiss franc.
A couple reasons could be behind markets shaking off the concerns about the Fed, including how it may ultimately play out for the best, according to Giuseppe Sette, president of Reflexivity, an AI investment analytics platform. Trump has already criticized the Fed sharply, and he's trying at the moment to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook, but the Fed's rate-setting committee still seems to be acting independently.
Plus, this latest move could encourage Powell to stay on at the Fed as a governor until his term expires in 2028, even though his term as chair will end in May, said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
“With the political pressure on the Fed, he may choose to stay on as a governor out of spite,” he said. "It would deprive President Trump of the ability to stack the board with another appointee."
On Wall Street, Abercrombie & Fitch dropped 17.4% after the retailer gave a forecasted range for profit in the final quarter of 2025 whose midpoint fell short of analysts' expectations. Its forecast for growth in revenue also fell shy of Wall Street's.
On the winning side of the market was Walmart, which rose 2.5% after learning that its stock will join the widely followed Nasdaq 100 index. Google also said Sunday that it's expanding the shopping features in its AI chatbot by teaming up with Walmart and several other big retailers.
The price of gold rose 3% to $4,635.40 per ounce and was heading toward another record.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 1.4% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai for two of the world’s bigger gains following reports that Chinese leaders were preparing more help for the economy.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Lamb works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Specialist Anthony Matesic works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Daniel Kryger works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Dealers watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Dealers talk near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
