Novak Djokovic has been urged to retire by tennis fans after his shock defeat to Alexei Popyrin at the US Open on Saturday morning.
The Serb went into the clash hoping to keep his hopes of winning a 25th Grand Slam title alive.
Yet Djokovic struggled throughout the showdown, with Popyrin winning 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to advance to the fourth round of the competition.
This year will be the first since 2017 that Djokovic has failed to win a major.
Novak Djokovic has been urged to retire by tennis fans after his shock defeat to Alexei Popyrin at the US Open on Saturday morning
Though he recently won gold at the Paris Olympics, the 37-year-old currently looks a shadow of the player that has written his name into the history books throughout his career.
And fans on social media have urged the veteran to retire from tennis after his dreams of US Open glory were ended.
“First time in years Djokovic let me down big time. He just doesn’t have it anymore. Time to retire,” wrote one user.
A second said: “No slams for Djokovic this year. Time to retire.”
While Djokovic is struggling, he has no plans to retire any time soon.
After winning Olympic gold, the veteran indicated that he’d like to play at the next Olympics in 2028.
He was, however, unhappy with his performance against Popyrin – saying he played some of the ‘worst tennis’ of his entire career.
“He definitely played better and deserved to win,” he said.
Novak Djokovic has been ripped into by tennis fans after his hopes of US Open glory ended in disaster
“I mean, on my end, honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament, third round is a success.
“I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly, serving by far the worst ever.”
Djokovic also said the match had been ‘awful’ from his perspective, too.
“If you play on a quick surface like this without the serve, without ability to win free points there, very low first-serve percentage, many double faults, then you can’t win,” he continued.
Novak Djokovic will head back to the drawing board following his defeat at the US Open
“You can’t win, especially against the guys who are in form like Alexei who is serving big, puts a lot of pressure on your service game.
“It was just an awful match for me.”
