Novak Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, approved of his dance after he defeated American Taylor Fritz on Tuesday in the U.S. Open quarterfinals, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
During his post-match interview, Djokovic showed off his moves to the 2025 song “Soda Pop” from the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” a performance he dedicated to his and Jelena’s daughter, Tara, who turned 8 on Tuesday.
“Awwwww My little soda pop!!!” Jelena wrote on her Instagram Story, including a video of the Serbian star, 38, dancing into the U.S. Open semifinals.
“Let’s go hahaha,” she added in Croatian.
Djokovic, a four-time U.S. Open winner, explained afterward that his quarterfinal victory was a “big present” for his daughter, who is a K-pop fan and taught him the dance moves.
“It’s 20 minutes to midnight here, 2 September, it’s my daughter’s birthday, so this is a big present for her,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “Actually, the dance in the end… she’s going to rate me tomorrow how the dance was because she told me how to dance. It’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’. ‘Soda Pop’ is the name of the song.
“Obviously, it’s a big thing globally for teenagers and kids, but I didn’t know about it before my daughter told me about it a few months ago. We were at home doing different choreographies, and this is one of them, so hopefully I’ll make her smile when she wakes up tomorrow morning.”
Djokovic continued his win streak against Fritz (11-0) with his quarterfinal victory, despite committing 40 unforced errors in the quarterfinal.
“I thought for my standards that I wasn’t playing well,” Djokovic said afterward. “I didn’t feel the ball as well as I did in the third round.
“Taylor is a kind of player who, if you allow him to play, he’s going to try to dictate, be aggressive, stay close to the line. He’s going to take his forehands and punish you. I was just trying to survive, stay in the rally, make him play.”
Djokovic will face World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals Friday.