NEW YORK – One of the ‘worst’ matches of his life, with ‘the worst’ serve he has ever shown by far. Novak Djokovic was knocked out in the third round of the US Open.
You have to go back to 2002 to find a season without a Grand Slam champion named Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Djokovic.
This Friday in New York, at the stroke of midnight, tennis signed a milestone that takes the sport back 22 years. Djokovic lost in four sets to Alexei Popyrin, ending his title defense attempt. Until the Australian summer, at least, the Serb’s 25th major title will have to wait.
‘I played one of the worst tennis matches I’ve ever played. Honestly, I’ve never served so bad in my life,’ he lamented at the press conference.
We have to be fair to Djokovic’s words, because before that self-criticism he congratulated his opponent. The Montreal Masters 1000 champion arrived in New York in the best moment of his career and made it noticeable on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
When the Australian woke up on the morning of the match against the Serb, he saw the news of Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise defeat and said to himself: ‘Why not me?
After defeats to Djokovic at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Popryin entered the court fully convinced that the third had to be his night. He emulated compatriot Lleyton Hewitt (present in his box in his role as Australia’s Davis Cup captain) as the only Aussies to defeat the Serb in a major event.
In fact, the 2002 Wimbledon and 2001 US Open champion was last responsible for such an early exit from New York for Djokovic, when he knocked him out in 2006, also in the third round.
‘On a court as fast as this, with no serve, no ability to win free points there, very low first serve percentage, a lot of double faults… then you can’t win. Especially against guys who are in form, like Alexei, who serves very well and puts a lot of pressure on your serve. It was a horrible match for me,’ said the current world number two.
Like Alcaraz, Djokovic felt the wear and tear of the Paris Olympics. Olympic gold was the only title missing from the Balkan, who had many disappointments in Games until he was finally able to settle that debt in early August in Paris.
‘Obviously it had an effect on me. It’s a different surface. I spent a lot of energy winning the gold and I came to New York not feeling fresh mentally or physically. It’s not that I had physical problems, I just ran out of gas,’ he said.
‘And that showed in the way I played. From the first match, I didn’t find myself on this court. Life goes on. We have to try to recalibrate and look to what’s next.’
