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Judgement calls over Djokovic’s rein as king of Majors must await next year’s Australian Open, at the very least
A day after Carlos Alcaraz, holder of the last two Major titles and heavy tournament favourite, was bundled out of the US Open in a shock second-round defeat, his big rival for the title followed suit.
An out-of-focus, off-colour Novak Djokovic was well beaten by the fiery challenge from Alexei Popyrin, the rising World No. 28 from Australia, succumbing 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6 in just over three hours on Friday night to end his title defence in the third round. It was a defeat that was both an upset, as well as perfectly characteristic of Djokovic’s streaky 2024 season, at many points of which he has failed to lift himself to meet his ridiculously high standards.
Justifications and circumstances aside, for the Serb to lose this early in a Major remains a shock. Djokovic failed to make the second week at a Slam for the first time since the 2017 Australian Open, and this was his earliest defeat at the US Open since 2006. He has gone the entire calendar year without winning a Major, only for the fourth time since winning his first one.
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The comeback momentum was on, but Djokovic looked utterly out of steam to ride it. He let his level drop as Popyrin stayed strong to take the fourth set and the victory.
It had been an unusually off night for the Serb. He hit 14 double faults – the most he had ever hit in one match in his career – and won just 38% of the return points he faced, two areas of the game where Djokovic is the out-and-out class leader. Later, he did not mince words about his performance.
“It was just an awful match for me,” he was quoted as saying by AP. “I wasn’t playing even close to my best. It’s not good to be in that kind of state where you feel OK physically, and of course you’re motivated because it’s a Grand Slam, but you just are not able to find your game. That’s it. The game is falling apart, and I guess you have to accept that tournaments like this happen.”
