In the third round of the New York tournament, where he was the defending champion, Djokovic was defeated by Australian Alexey Popirin 3:1 in sets. The last time he was eliminated this early from the US Open was a much more famous Australian – Leighton Hewitt, 18 years ago.
Just a month ago, the whole world watched in amazement the epic duel between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Olympic Games, and then how the Serbian tennis player won the only gold he lacked in his career.
Today, in just 24 hours, neither one nor the other is part of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season, which practically did not heat up properly.
In the third round of the New York tournament, where he was the defending champion, Djokovic was defeated by Australian Alexey Popirin 3:1 in sets.
The last time he was eliminated this early from the US Open was a much more famous Australian – Leighton Hewitt, 18 years ago.
“My game completely fell apart, it was painful to play this way, I looked and felt like an amateur at times,” said the winner of a record 24th Grand Slam trophy.
Twenty-five-year-old Popirin, the 28th tennis player in the world, this is the first placement in the round of XNUMX of a Grand Slam tournament and the biggest victory in his career.
“To do that against the greatest of all time is unbelievable, you know. It’s a great feeling, my hard work paid off,” said Popirin.
Alcaraz was previously defeated in the second round by the Dutchman Botik van de Zandschulp, the 74th tennis player on the ATP list, 3:0 in sets.
The effect of gold on defeat
Djokovic immediately admitted that the Olympic tournament had a great influence on him.
“I didn’t feel fresh either mentally or physically. I spent a lot of energy in winning the gold,” said the 37-year-old Djokovic at a press conference.
“I felt like I was running out of fuel, I couldn’t find myself on the field from the first match.”
He was thinking, as he says, whether he should even appear at the US Open after the “enormous discharge”, but he did so precisely because it was the US Open.
In the first round, he defeated Radu Albot from Moldova, in the second round, the Serbian representative Lasl Đere, but he was not completely himself in those matches either.
In the end, as he says, he “finished ingloriously”.
“I am angry and upset because of the defeat, but tomorrow is a new day,” said Djokovic.
One of the problematic items during the entire tournament was the serve.
Against Popirin, the second tennis player in the world made as many as 14 double service faults, significantly more than he normally allows himself.
As one of the reasons for the defeat, he pointed out that he could not get used to the much faster concrete surface than the slow Parisian slag.
The defeat at the US Open also means that for the first time since 2017, the season ends without a single Grand Slam trophy.
At Wimbledon, he was defeated in the final by Alcaraz, Roland Garros ended in the quarterfinals, after an injury problem, and the Australian Open in the semifinals, when the world’s number one tennis player, Janik Siner, was better than him today.
In the meantime, he has not played in many tournaments, so apart from the Olympic Games in 2025, he has not won any tournaments.
“The Olympic Games was the biggest goal, I played the best there and if it’s the year to win only that gold – I accept it, I’ve been waiting for it all my life.
“As a result, the weakest season in the last 15 years, that’s how I feel, but that’s how it is.”
How to get motivated
The race for the best tennis player in history lasted for a long time.
Main actors: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
However, after Djokovic’s gold at the Olympic Games in Paris, it was often heard in the tennis world that there was no more debate.
Today’s tennis players, including Popirin himself, put a goat emoji next to Djokovic, the symbol of the greatest of all time (GOAT – i.e. goat in English – greatest of all time).
He has the most weeks as number one in the world, the most Grand Slam trophies, as well as the better score in direct duels against Nadal and Federer.
Olympic gold seemed to be the deciding factor on that scale.
Now the question is how, after everything, at the age of 37, to find a motive.
By the end of the season, only the Final Masters, in which the eight best tennis players in the world participate, and which Djokovic won the last two times, remained of the most important tournaments.
However, he says he is not thinking about it yet.
“Just about tomorrow and next week. I will return to Belgrade and see how I feel going forward,” he said.
