The U.S. Open has been the site of many of Novak Djokovic's signature moments. Here are the five most notable from his first decade at Flushing Meadows.

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Tennis experts trekked to the side courts to watch junior star Gael Monfils, but it didn’t take long for them to start noticing the smooth strokes of the 18-year-old Serbian on the other side of the net, who was also making his Open debut. The match was a taste of things to come. After hyperventilating and taking a long mid-match break, Djokovic bounced back to win 7–5 in the fifth.

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“I’m sure some of the folks know that you do impressions of the other players,” USA Network’s Michael Barkann said to Djokovic after his quarterfinal win. With that prompting, Djokovic went from player to entertainer. First he hiked up his pants and pranced like Maria Sharapova; then he rolled up his sleeves and picked his shorts like Rafael Nadal. The evening crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium ate it up, and the Djoker was born.

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This time, the New York audience didn’t buy what Djokovic was selling. He had come out breathing fire at Andy Roddick and blazed through him in four sets. Then he revealed why to Barkann: “Andy was saying I have 16 injuries... That’s not nice.” Roddick had joked earlier about Djokovic’s many stated maladies, and rubbed the Serb the wrong way. The fans in Ashe sided with their countryman and booed Djokovic off the court.

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At 23, Djokovic’s career had stalled. He hadn’t won a Slam since 2008, and he couldn’t pass Nadal and Roger Federer in the rankings. And it didn’t appear as if he was going to make it past Federer in the semis here. Down two match points, Djokovic did what he usually does in those situations: He went for broke. A few games later, he found himself the winner. While Nole would lose the final to Nadal, his win over Federer was a breakthrough.

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The season had been Djokovic’s annus mirabilis. He arrived in Queens with a 57–2 record, then topped himself at the Open. In the semis, he repeated his heroics against Federer, saving two match points in a five-set win. Then he followed it up with a grinding four-set win over Nadal in the final. He also earned back the crowd’s respect when he accepted his trophy while wearing an FDNY cap, in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.