US Open: Novak Djokovic loses to Alexei Popyrin in third round

NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic wasn't kind to himself when assessing the listless way he's played since the start of the U.S. Open, pointing to his sloppy serve as the main reason his 2023 title defense ended in surprising fashion in the third round.

“I played the worst tennis of my life, honestly,” Djokovic said shortly after midnight as Friday turned to Saturday. “It's by far the worst serve I've ever played.”

With 14 double faults, taking his tournament total to 32, Djokovic fell 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to 28th-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia, another shocking result at Flushing Meadows a night after 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated.

This is only the third time in the Open era that two of the top three men's seeds at the US Open have been eliminated before the fourth round; the previous instances came in 1973 and 2000.

“It was a horrible match for me,” world No. 2 Djokovic said. “I wasn't even at my best. It's not good to be in that state where you feel good physically, and of course you're motivated because it's a Grand Slam, but you're just 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.”

But not often for him.

After all, Djokovic was trying to become the first player in tennis history to win 25 Grand Slam singles titles. Instead, after knee surgery in June, he ends a year without winning at least one major title for the first time since 2017. Before that, that hadn't happened since 2010.

Also of note: 2024 now becomes the first season since 2002 in which none of the big three of men's tennis, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have won a Grand Slam trophy.

The third-round exit was Djokovic's worst performance at Flushing Meadows; the only other times he has been beaten so early at the US Open came in 2005 and 2006. The man who beat Djokovic 18 years ago, International Tennis Hall of Famer Lleyton Hewitt, is now Australia's Davis Cup captain and was sitting in Popyrin's guest box at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Djokovic, Popyrin said, was not playing his best tennis; I was waiting for him to improve.

“I didn't want to have that kind of moment where Novak took over and came back after being down two sets to zero,” Popyrin said. “That's what went through my mind.”

Djokovic, 37, has reached the Ashes final 10 times, winning the title in 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2023.

On Friday, however, he was sluggish and emotionally flat, perhaps because of residual fatigue after winning his first Olympic gold medal for Serbia by beating Alcaraz in the final at the Paris Games earlier in August.

“It had an impact,” Djokovic said. “I spent a lot of energy to win the gold and I arrived in New York not feeling fresh, not fresh, not physically fresh. But since it was the US Open, I took my chance and I did my best. I didn't have any physical problems. I just felt low on energy. And it showed in the way I played.”

Alcaraz, the No. 3 seed, entered the U.S. Open as the tournament favorite after winning the French Open and Wimbledon, and acknowledged his energy was lower than he thought after being knocked out by No. 74 Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday night.

“I woke up this morning and I showed it to my girlfriend right away, I was shocked. It was crazy. These kinds of results happen,” said Popyrin, who had never set foot on the 23,000-plus capacity Ashe court before facing Djokovic 20 minutes earlier. “I thought, ‘Why not me today?’”

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, Djokovic replaced Alcaraz as the favorite to win the men's title, but that status didn't last very long. Now, the only former men's U.S. Open champion still in contention before the end of the first week is Daniil Medvedev, whose only Grand Slam title came in 2021. He will face No. 31 Flavio Cobolli on Saturday in the third round.

For Popyrin, 25, it represents a real breakthrough: he was 0-3 against Djokovic, including losses at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, and 0-6 in third-round matches at major tournaments.

But Popyrin, who serves brilliantly, is playing as well as ever, having won the biggest title of his career less than three weeks ago at a hard-court tournament in Montreal, where he won five times against opponents ranked in the top 20.

Everything was against Djokovic.

Popyrin was terrific at the net, going 10 of 10 on serve-and-volleys and 25 of 36 on points when he stepped up. Djokovic, on the other hand, won the point on just 19 of his 40 net passes, partly because Popyrin kept feeding him passing shots.

Popyrin took big cuts with his powerful forehand, racking up 22 of his 50 total winners with that shot.

He also broke Djokovic five times, including to lead 3-2 in the fourth set. It seemed a titanic game, lasting more than 10 minutes and including four break chances for Popyrin, who converted the last one with an inside-out forehand to cap a 22-shot rally, then turned on his heels, clenched both fists and roared. He also took Djokovic's next service game to make it 5-2.

The first time Popyrin served for the match, he hesitated, allowing Djokovic to break. The second time, Popyrin sealed the deal, holding at 0 when Djokovic sent a forehand long.

Popyrin will now try to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final by eliminating 20th-ranked Frances Tiafoe, who qualified on Friday with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory over 13th-ranked Ben Shelton in a match between two Americans.

“If he serves well and plays well, he can beat anyone,” Djokovic said of Popyrin. “Look, Alcaraz is out. I'm out. There are big surprises. The draw is opening up.”

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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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