Novak Djokovic Explains Flashy Celebration After Defeating Taylor Fritz at U.S. Open

The American men's major drought continues with Fritz's loss.

Novak Djokovic brought out a special celebration to celebrate his win over Taylor Fritz at the U.S. Open / Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Novak Djokovic is looking anything but his age at the U.S. Open.

The 38-year-old tennis legend is off to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows after he took down top American and ATP world No. 4 Taylor Fritz in four sets (6–3, 7–5, 3–6, 6–4). The U.S. Open run marks Djokovic's 53rd semifinal appearance in a major, the most by any player in the Open Era according to ESPN.

After the match point where Fritz double-faulted, Djokovic prepared some slick dance moves that quickly had fans questioning what he was doing:

Novak Djokovic is dancing into the semifinals of the US Open. pic.twitter.com/SgyMP6y1kr

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2025

Well, he quickly explained the dance in his post-match interview, which was a tribue to his daughter and the new popular film KPop Demon Hunters.

"It's my daughter's birthday so this is a big present for her," he said Tuesday after the match. "Actually the dance in the end, she's going to rate me tomorrow how was the dance because she told me how to dance. It's KPop Demon Hunters and 'Soda Pop' is the name of the song. Obviously it's a big thing globally for teenagers and for kids, but I didn't know about it before my daughter told me a few months ago about it. So we're at home doing different choreographies and this is one of them, so hopefully I'll make her smile when she wakes up tomorrow morning."

A little soda pop birthday dance for Novak's daughter 🫶 pic.twitter.com/TsmFeh8Nyj

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 3, 2025

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz awaits Djokovic in their semifinal match which is scheduled for Friday. Djokovic is out in front of their all-time series 5-3 and he has never lost to Alcaraz on a hard court. Their most recent match came in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open earlier this year where Djokovic came out on top in four sets.

Fritz's loss continues a long major drought for American men. Andy Roddick was the last American man to win a major, which came at the U.S. Open in 2003. Ben Shelton was likely the American's best hope other than Fritz to end the drought, but he was forced to retire during his third-round match due to a shoulder injury. The future of American tennis is bright with Fritz and Shelton, although they face an uphill battle in taking home a major with the dominance of Alcaraz and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

Plus, Djokovic is still there, keeping himself young.

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