US Open Tennis 2021: TV Schedule, Start Times for Thursday Night Draw

Novak Djokovic's second match at the 2021 U.S. Open comes against a player he has never faced before. 

The 20-time Grand Slam winner takes on Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in the first of two night matches inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

Djokovic had a bit of difficulty with his first opponent in New York, but teenager Holger Rune was done in by cramping in the third and fourth sets. 

Griekspoor could be one of a few unseeded players Djokovic faces in the next few rounds. There is a single seeded player left in his section of the draw. 

Karolina Pliskova follows Djokovic on Ashe. The women's No. 4 seed faces Amanda Anisimova. Pliskova has not lost a set in three previous meetings with the American. The last of those meetings took place a few weeks ago in Montreal. 

The U.S. Open prime-time slate begins at 7 p.m. ET. The matches will be televised on ESPN2 and live-streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.

Previews

No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Tallon Griekspoor

Djokovic's name has already been penciled into the third round of the men's singles bracket. The No. 1 seed's season-long Grand Slam quest goes through the 121st-ranked player on the ATP Tour. 

Griekspoor needed five sets to eliminate Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, so he is already at a disadvantage when it comes to time on court. 

The 25-year-old last played a top-10 player at Wimbledon and lost in straight sets to Alexander Zverev. Griekspoor won eight games over three sets in that matchup.

Djokovic should produce a similar level of dominance as he fine-tunes his game to prepare for bigger challenges in the future. 

The 34-year-old did not get an ideal run out in the first round since Rune was barely able to run for most of the final two sets. Expect Djokovic to look much cleaner on points against an opponent who will try to leave everything out on the court. 

The Serb's path will get a bit more difficult in the third round since he will face Kei Nishikori or Mackenzie McDonald. 

The overall draw is setting up perfectly for Djokovic. Alex De Minaur and David Goffin were knocked out in the first round. Aslan Karatsev, the No. 21 seed, is the only seeded player who could face Djokovic in the first four rounds. 

Matteo Berrettini or Hubert Hurkacz will likely await in the quarterfinals, which is where the real threat to Djokovic's Grand Slam quest should begin.

No. 4 Karolina Pliskova vs. Amanda Anisimova       

Pliskova has an ideal matchup on paper.

She has never lost a set to Anisimova, and all three of her wins in the head-to-head series featured at least one lopsided set. 

Pliskova defeated Anisimova 6-1, 7-6 (8) in the round of 16 of the National Bank Open in Montreal. That tournament is one of the two major tuneups to New York on the North American hard-court circuit. 

The 20-year-old from New Jersey pushed Pliskova to a tiebreak on one other occasion in their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2018. The four other sets played between them resulted in wins of three games or more out of Pliskova. 

Pliskova went 7-2 in Montreal and Cincinnati. She reached the final in Canada and the semifinal stage in Ohio. 

The No. 4 seed is in strong form, and she displayed that in a straight-set win over Catherine McNally in the first round. The Czech is the favorite to come out of her section, and a showdown with either Bianca Andreescu or Petra Kvitova could await in the final eight. 

Statistics obtained from ATPTour.com and WTATennis.com.