{"id":60930,"date":"2026-08-31T07:23:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/60930\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T07:23:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:23:26","slug":"novak-djokovic-drops-biggest-hint-about-future-in-professional-tennis-after-us-open-shocker-how-much-longer-i-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/60930\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic drops biggest hint about future in professional tennis after US Open shocker: \u2018How much longer I can\u2026\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a>\u2019s latest Grand Slam campaign ended in painful fashion at the US Open on Monday, with the 39-year-old admitting he is uncertain about how much longer he can continue competing at the highest level after a physically exhausting defeat to Mariano Navone of Argentina. The 24-time Grand Slam winner battled through a series of fitness problems before eventually falling 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 to Navone in the opening round at Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"NovakNovak Djokovic addressed his future after suffering a shock defeat (Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s condition deteriorated as the match wore on. Humid conditions appeared to take a significant toll on the Serbian, who was visibly exhausted and struggled to maintain his intensity during the five-set contest. He was seen using an ice bag on his head during the match, after rain forced the roof to be closed.<\/p>\n

The physical difficulties became particularly severe in the third set when Djokovic vomited on court. He received medication from a tournament physiotherapist and fluids from his team before attempting to continue.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Novak Djokovic loses first-round match of a Grand Slam after 20 years; crashes out of US Open<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe vomiting, the gagging, it\u2019s a serious problem. Then my whole body started to give way, with cramps and pain. In the end, my back and shoulders also gave out, and I couldn\u2019t finish the match. I was a break up in the fourth set, but I had already been struggling a lot from the fourth game onwards,\u201d Djokovic told reporters.<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2019s frustration and exhaustion were evident at the conclusion. The Serbian broke down in tears<\/a>, while his comments afterwards suggested that the physical demands of competing at the top of the sport are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how I can solve it. At the moment, I don\u2019t want to go into too much detail. I\u2019m just trying to understand what\u2019s going on and how much longer I can keep going like this,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

Did he want to quit?<\/p>\n

The former world No. 1 acknowledged that the possibility of stopping had crossed his mind during the contest, but he chose to continue fighting rather than retire from the match.<\/p>\n

The defeat also ended one of the most remarkable records in Grand Slam tennis. Djokovic had won 78 consecutive first-round matches at major tournaments, with his previous defeat at that stage coming against Paul Goldstein at the 2006 Australian Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I did,\u201d Djokovic replied when asked whether he had considered giving up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then I won one set and then another. At that point, I said to myself: \u2018OK, maybe there is a chance.\u2019 I didn\u2019t want to give up in the fourth or fifth set. I wanted to finish the match,” he added.<\/p>\n

His latest setback also brought his pursuit of a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title to an abrupt conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic\u2019s latest Grand Slam campaign ended in painful fashion at the US Open on Monday, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[312,942,139,28,463],"class_list":["post-60930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novak-djokovic","tag-arthur-ashe-stadium","tag-grand-slam-winner","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}