The 25-year-old has faced adversity before, and overcome.
The stakes are extraordinarily high ahead of Alcaraz and Djokovic's second meeting.
The Dane couldn't find his best tennis in a disappointing loss to Casper Ruud at Roland-Garros.
The US hasn't gone this long without a Grand Slam singles champion since, well, forever.
Newly combined ATP/WTA 500 tournament kicks off July 29.
"I apologized after, but I think she knows that's part of the game," Coco Gauff said of nailing Iga Swiatek with a backhand drive.
"It wasn't really that much fun out there in the first two sets. I felt completely off, kind of like sleeping in a way," Stefanos Tsitsipas said of quarterfinal loss.
