Hang on, Rennae Stubbs! Novak Djokovic fights for his right to party with Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd

“You gotta fight, for your right, to party.”

The Beastie Boys have a fan in a certain Grand Slam beast, after Novak Djokovic wanted to share their iconic lyric with 20,000 fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

On Tuesday, Djokovic returned to the US Open to take on Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. The 23-time major champion was tuned into the playlist served up by the venue's DJ, having heard the 1986 smash before serving for the match. Djokovic was forced to save one final break point before closing out a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory on the hottest day of the tournament so far.

“Very humid conditions. Difficult to play,” he told Rennae Stubbs after moving to 8-0 against Fritz. “Not easy, but as the song went five minutes ago, you gotta to fight, for your right, to party.”

When Stubbs went to ask one final question, Djokovic wasn’t quite done. Grabbing the mic as the Australian maintained her grip, Djokovic announced, “Everybody ready?”

“You gotta fight,” he began singing as the crowd joined in. “For your right, to parrrrrrrrrty!”

“I’m glad you didn’t ask me to join in there!” quipped Stubbs.

Djokovic can make it one hell of a party by weekend’s end if he goes onto lift his fourth US Open trophy. A title would bring him to 24 majors, tying him with Margaret Court for the all-time record (11 of hers were captured in the Open Era).

The 36-year-old was also asked if he hit up the barber in response to the changing weather forecast.

“Yeah, hair cut helped a lot, obviously,” laughed Djokovic. “I’m more aerodynamic today on the court. I feel like I’m getting to the ball faster than I was a few days ago.”

Set to return to world No. 1 following the tournament, Djokovic awaits the winner of tonight’s all-American clash between Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.