Carlos Alcaraz loves the morning-to-midnight action of Grand Slam tennis, saying he spends all day checking the scores. Then, he already knows his side of the US Open draw has grown significantly tougher than Novak Djokovic’s. The defending champion beat Lloyd Harris 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Thursday night to reach the third round, where most of the top players in his half of the bracket remain.

The second-seeded Djokovic’s bottom half of the draw has already seen losses by No. 4 Holger Rune, No. 5 Casper Ruud and No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas. While some players say they focus only on themselves, the 20-year-old Alcaraz is aware of what’s happening all around him. “It doesn’t matter if it’s in the top part or the bottom part [of the draw], I’m following all the results,” Alcaraz said.