Djokovic Shockingly Exits US Open as Body Fails in Epic Match

Novak Djokovic has walked out of plenty of New York nights as the last man standing. This time, he limped out a first–round loser.

For the first time in his storied career, the 39-year-old crashed out in the opening round of the US Open, stunned by Mariano Navone 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a four-and-a-half-hour epic that finished just before midnight.

It was not just a defeat. It was a breakdown.

A Marathon Turns Into a Meltdown

Djokovic had been here before in a different sense. Earlier this month in Cincinnati, his body had already flashed warning lights. On Sunday night in New York, those warnings turned into a full shutdown.

He vomited on court at least once. His left foot cramped. His lower back seized so badly he needed a medical timeout between the fourth and fifth sets. As the match dragged on, the 24-time Grand Slam champion looked less like the iron man of tennis and more like a player fighting simply to stay upright.

“I didn’t enjoy myself,” Djokovic admitted. “I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me.

“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, and I couldn’t close it out.”

The words matched the images. Once he had nudged ahead two sets to one, this felt like another of those nights when Djokovic, even short of his best, would find a way. Instead, Navone dug in, and Djokovic’s body simply quit on him.

The fourth set told the story. The Argentine sensed the drop in intensity and pounced, racing through it 6-2 as Djokovic laboured between points and leaned on his racquet between rallies. By the deciding set, the contest had tilted completely. Navone’s legs were fresh; Djokovic’s were gone. The 6-1 fifth set was brutal in its clarity.

A Landmark Defeat

This is Djokovic’s earliest exit from a major since the 2006 Australian Open, when he lost to American Paul Goldstein. Back then, he was a promising teenager still learning the ropes. Two decades later, he leaves New York as a 24-time major winner searching for answers as much as for a 25th title.

He last lifted a Grand Slam trophy here in 2023. That triumph felt like a reinforcement of his dominance, a reminder that even as the years piled up, his grip on the sport remained vice-like.

Now the questions shift. The results alone would be one thing. The pattern behind them is something else entirely. Cincinnati ended with his body giving way. New York did too. The greatest returner in the sport suddenly finds himself on the back foot against his own physiology.

New Faces, New Momentum

While Djokovic’s night ended in distress, two players headed into the US Open with the kind of momentum he once routinely carried into majors.

Ignacio Buse, just 22, became the youngest champion in Winston-Salem Open history, dismantling Arthur Fery 6-3, 6-2 in the final. It is the second tour-level trophy of his career and caps a season that has already launched him to a career-high No. 30 in the rankings. His week in North Carolina looked like a statement: he belongs in the conversation now, not later.

On the women’s side, Diane Parry finally broke through a barrier that had been holding her back. The Frenchwoman arrived in Monterrey with an 0-5 record in tour-level semifinals. She left with her first WTA title, earned the hard way.

Parry beat fifth seed Ann Li to reach her maiden final, then outlasted Elise Mertens 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 to claim the WTA 500 crown. It was her second win over Mertens in as many weeks and the exclamation point on a week packed with heavyweight scalps.

She collected five Top 50 victories in Monterrey, taking down Mertens, Li, Clara Tauson, Oleksandra Oliynykova, and Donna Vekic. For a player who had stalled at the semifinal hurdle, it felt like a dam breaking.

The doubles titles followed different scripts but ended with new names holding silverware. Petr Nouza and Neil Oberleitner took the men’s doubles crown in Winston-Salem, defeating Austin Krajicek and Nikola Mektic. In Monterrey, Maya Joint and Yifan Xu combined to beat Mariia Kozyreva and Maia Lumsden for the women’s doubles title.

A Shifting Landscape

The sport rarely pauses. Even as Djokovic wrestles with his health and the weight of history, the calendar rolls on and the cast keeps changing.

In a few weeks, the Davis Cup will bring its own intensity to Quebec City, where Team Canada will host France in the Qualifiers Second Round. Young contenders like Buse and Parry will chase more breakthroughs. Established stars will fight to hold their ground.

And Djokovic? He will leave New York not just with an early exit, but with a harsher reality: for the first time in a long time, the biggest opponent to his 25th major might not be across the net.