For the first time in his illustrious career, Novak Djokovic lost in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Djokovic struggled physically for the majority of four hours and 36 minutes on his way to a 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 setback against Mariano Navone on Sunday night. The 39-year-old led two sets to one and by a break in the fourth but could not get across finish line as physical troubles — and an in-form opponent — sent him packing from New York. Djokovic vomited, moved poorly, and dealt with both back and shoulder issues.
“I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me,” Djokovic said during his press conference. “It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year — vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there. Then my whole body starts to collapse, basically cramping and pain. Yeah, the back just gave up in the end and shoulder. I couldn’t close it out, you know?
“I was a break up in the fourth, but just struggled all the way since the fourth game of the match.”
After Djokovic gave back his break in the fourth set, it was downhill the entire rest of the way. The Serb had almost nothing left for what was an especially painful fifth. In the end, Navone was fitter and simply better — resulting in the first five-set win of his career. And despite Djokovic’s own issues, he made sure to give the 25-year-old some credit.
“I don’t want to take too much [away from] his win,” Djokovic added. “Congrats to him. He’s a nice guy (and) a fighter.”
“It’s amazing,” Navone commented in his on-court interview. “The way we played, five sets against the GOAT…. I’m very happy. I don’t know, what can I say? It’s unbelievable. It means a lot for me. It’s a dream come true, 100 percent. Now I have to recover. I think it’s almost 12 o’clock, so we have to go to sleep.”
But this is a dream from which the Argentine might never wake up.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.