Another big surprise in the first week of the US Open. After the premature farewell of the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, this Saturday morning the one who said goodbye was the Serbian Novak Djokovic. The one from Belgrade, who was on fire after achieving that Olympic gold that he longed for in Paris 2024, he fell in a surprise way with the Australian Alexei Popyrin for the third round of the last Grand Slam of the season. It was 6-4, 6-4, 2-6 and 6-4, in 3h19 for the oceanic, 28th seeded, which left the former world number one out of the race in 2024 to win his 25th title in a major.
The Serbian’s elimination culminates the first year since 2002 in which none of the Grand Slam trophies have fallen into the hands of members of the ‘Big 3’, which Djokovic conforms with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The defense of the US Open title was the last opportunity for ‘Nole’ who, at 37 years old, is still fighting to achieve her 25th Grand Slam title and surpass Margaret Court to set the absolute record in tennis.
Before the press, the Serbian said that this week he played some of the worst matches of his career and pointed towards his efforts to win his first Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games, in a final against the also worn-out Alcaraz.
“It obviously had an effect. I spent a lot of energy winning gold and arrived in New York not feeling fresh mentally and physically“he stated.
“I simply felt powerless, and that was noticeable in the way I played,” the Serbian developed in a message in line with the one Alcaraz presented.
In addition to the impact of adding the Games to the busy tennis calendar, the US Open is already usually the most unpredictable big stage, where no tennis player has defended the title since Federer’s five consecutive trophies between 2004 and 2008.
With an empty tank, Djokovic ended up condemning himself to his worst defeat in a Grand Slam since 2017 with his erratic serve, committing up to 16 double faults, his record in a major tournament.
“On a fast surface like this, without a good serve you can’t win (…) It was a horrible match for me,” he acknowledged.
Djokovic also ran into a fired-up Popyrin who has taken a giant leap in confidence after winning his first Masters 1000 title in Canada this month.
Popyrin is only the second Australian to knock down the Balkan giant since Lleyton Hewitt dealt him his last elimination in the third round of the US Open, for which we must go back to 2006.
After his departure and that of Alcaraz, winner of the event in 2022, Djokovic pointed to the Italian Jannik Sinner, world number one, as the top favorite.