Sep 1, 2008, 17:13 GMT
New York - At age 21, Novak Djokovic is starting to feel like a veteran after seeing off an even younger rising star from the Balkans with a win over teenaged Marin Cilic at the US Open.
The Serbian-Croatian clash left world number three Djokovic feeling his 'age.'
'I do feel a little old, like I played tennis all my life,' the 2007 finalist against Roger Federer said. 'But it's good for the sport to see new teenagers and rising stars coming up.'
Just a season or so ago, Djokovic, son of a mountain resort pizzeria owner from Belgrade, was the rising talent. Now he's an established presence among the elite.
But he can easily look over his shoulder to see the next wave in the game fast approaching.
'We have a couple of real tall guys like Cilic, (Argentine Juan) Del Potro and (Japan's Kei) Nishikori. They're all top 10 players. I'm sure we're going to see them in the future.'
'I'm not surprised that Cilic has been doing well lately,' he said of the champion at the New Haven tune-up event. 'He's certainly going to do even better.'
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NOTEBOOK: Muller's horizons extend beyond tiny Luxembourg =
New York (dpa) - Gilles Muller has raised the tennis profile of tiny Luxembourg as the only men's player in recent memory to have made an impression.
The 2001 junior US Open champion has become the first from his wealthy postage-stamp European nation to have reached the last eight at Flushing Meadows, next taking on two-time semi-finalist Nikolay Davydenko.
'I don't want to focus on goals on having a record in Luxembourg, because there's not many players in front of you,' the 25-year-old ranked 130th said.
'I'm the first one actually to do everything. But that's not my goal - to be the best in Luxembourg.'
Muller is on a roll after winning three straight matches for the first time since 2005, when he made what had been considered a summer breakthrough by playing a Los Angeles final against Andre Agassi.
But his game quickly fell back to Challenger level in the intervening years.
The qualifier has suddenly found his game at the last Grand Slam of the season.
His entry into the main draw was a close thing: 'My first round in the qualifiers I almost lost because I was flying in late from Istanbul because I played a Challenger over there.'
He arrived in New York on a Sunday night and trained the next day before taking to the court for the preliminary rounds.
After beating Germany's former number two Tommy Haas from two sets to love down, Muller's confidence lifted.
'Now I know I can turn around matches. That gave me a lot of confidence, and I can beat those guys.'
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