US Open: Djokovic falls to Alexei Popyrin and his 25th Grand Slam will have to wait
The Serbian tennis player and reigning champion blamed his defeat on the effort he made to win gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Novak Djokovic, at the US Open 2024
If the elimination of Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the last Grand Slam of the year was surprising, even more has been that of Novak Djokovic. The Serbian tennis player and reigning champion fell in the third round of the US Open against Australian Alexei Popyrin in four sets (6-4, 6-4, 2-6 and 6-4), in a match that stretched to three hours and 20 minutes.
"I simply felt out of strength, and it showed in the way I played. I arrived in New York not feeling fresh mentally and physically," said Djokovic, blaming his elimination on the effort he made to win gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, without taking away merit from his rival: "He certainly played better and deserved to win."
The truth is that the statistics reflected what Djokovic himself acknowledged about himself. Far from what he usually does, the male tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles in history was not accurate with his serve -he committed 14 double faults-, despite making one ace more than Popyrin -16 against 15-.
This defeat means that the number two in the ATP ranking and one of the great favorites to conquer the title will have to wait, at least, for the next edition of the Australian Open - to be played at the beginning of next year - to be able to add his twenty-fifth Grand Slam to his record of achievements.
Sinner, Zverev, Medvedev...
With Djokovic and Alcaraz out of the US Open, other tennis players are raising their hands to postulate themselves as main candidates to win the tournament. The first example is the number one of the ATP ranking, the Italian Jannik Sinner, who aspires to conquer his second Grand Slam this season (he won the Australian Open) and the second of his career.
Other names emerging include Germany's Alexander Zverev (number four) and Russia's Daniil Medvedev (number five), without subtracting options to others like the also Russian Andrey Rublev (number six) or the Norwegian Casper Ruud(number eight). Taylor Fritz (number 12), Tommy Paul (number 14), Frances Tiafoe (number 20) and Brandon Nakashima (number 50), keep the hopes of an American to win the US Open again -the last one to do it was Andy Rodick in 2003-.
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