The US Open 2024 is gradually becoming a nightmare for the organizers! Because the big players, with the audience, the ones who are able to sell the tickets, leave the competition in the lane. First, there was the setback suffered by Carlos Alcaraz (Spain, 21, 3 ATP) in the second round, now came the defeat of Novak Djokovic (Serbia, 37, 2 ATP) in the third round.
Novak Djokovic. PHOTO: The Truth Archive
In the night from Friday to Saturday, the great Serbian champion was defeated, after four sets, by the Australian Alexei Popyrin: 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. The game lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes.
The bombshell result brings more black marks for Olympic champion Djokovic this year in Paris:
*He had not been defeated, in New York, so quickly since 2006! Then he suffered his last elimination, in the third round. Then, until the now untimely elimination, he had collected 10 finals at the US Open of which four were won (2011, 2015, 2018, 2023).
*This is the first time since 2017 that Nole has finished a season without a major trophy. This year, he exited the Australian Open in the semifinals, lost at the French Open in the quarters, was beaten at Wimbledon in the last act, and now came the failure at the US Open in the third round.
Djokovic, deeply disappointed with his game
After the failure with Alexei Popyrin, the third suffered in front of the Australian, Nole came to the conference and, according to Eurosport, explained the causes of this defeat. Here’s “radiography” to the Serb:
*I have to congratulate Alexei and his team. He played much better and deserved to win today. For me, honestly, the way I felt and played since the beginning of the tournament, the third round is a success. It was one of the worst levels of tennis I’ve ever seen, and the service level was by far the worst.
*You can’t win if you play on a fast surface like this without serving, without winning easy points, if you have a very low first serve percentage, you make so many double faults. Especially against guys who are in great form like Alexei, who serves at a huge level, who messes you up a lot in your service games. Yeah, that was a horrible game from me.
*I’ve tried a lot of things and sometimes that’s a problem, getting away from the fundamentals of your game. You lose the basics of your tennis. You lose mobility, timing, rhythm, everything, whether it’s the serve or any other shot. The three games I played here were a tremendous battle mentally because I wasn’t playing even close to my best level. It’s not OK to be like this, to not feel good physically and mentally. It’s a Grand Slam, but I couldn’t find my game. I don’t want to analyze that right now. My plan was to improve my tennis every day, but I didn’t achieve that.
