{"id":61432,"date":"2026-08-31T19:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T19:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/61432\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T19:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T19:43:12","slug":"questions-abound-for-tennis-legend-after-shock-u-s-open-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/61432\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions Abound For Tennis Legend After Shock U.S. Open Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Novak Djokovic<\/a>\u00a0waved goodbye, made a heart shape with his hands and blew kisses to the crowd as he walked off the court inside\u00a0Arthur Ashe Stadium<\/a>\u00a0to a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Among those applauding in return were Djokovic’s 11-year-old son Stefan, while his 8-year-old daughter Tara covered her eyes and loaded her floppy-eared stuffed animal into a bag that went around her shoulder.<\/p>\n

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Back down on the court, Djokovic had his two black bags \u2014 one containing his rackets and the other more equipment \u2014 hanging from his shoulders.<\/p>\n

After his first-round loss to Mariano Navone at the\u00a0U.S. Open<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday night, it remains to be seen whether the 39-year-old Djokovic will ever bring those bags out on a court again for a professional match.<\/p>\n

The 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 loss marked Djokovic’s earliest Grand Slam exit in two decades \u2014 dating back to the 2006 Australian Open \u2014 and the first time ever that he lost his opener at the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

The holder of a men’s record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, Djokovic has now gone three straight years without winning a major.<\/p>\n

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Physical issues<\/p>\n

Perhaps even more concerning than his record \u2014 which has otherwise still been fairly competitive since his last Grand Slam title at the 2023 U.S. Open \u2014 is that Djokovic has consistently struggled with physical issues this year.<\/p>\n

After a run to the Australian Open final to start the year, Djokovic played little because of\u00a0an injured right shoulder<\/a>. Then he appeared weakened by a Paris heat wave in\u00a0a five-set loss to Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca<\/a>\u00a0in the third round of the French Open.<\/p>\n

“I was barely standing on my legs toward the end of the match,” Djokovic said after getting beaten by Fonseca.<\/p>\n

Djokovic revived himself for a run to the semifinals at Wimbledon and then struggled again at the Cincinnati Open this month when he was beaten by 50th-ranked Thiago Agustin Tirante in his opening match.<\/p>\n

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After the loss to Tirante, Djokovic said\u00a0an unspecified health condition<\/a>\u00a0made it difficult for him to play in hot and humid weather.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a condition that I have, health-wise, that has been bothering me for the past couple of years,” Djokovic said. “A lot of issues, especially when it is humid and it is hot. \u2026 Nerves and everything involved that make it worse.”<\/p>\n

Djokovic’s issues against Navone began midway through the first set when he appeared to be struggling with the heat and humidity. Djokovic led early on in the first set but Navone got back on serve before the match was briefly halted for the roof to be closed because of light rain.<\/p>\n

As Djokovic sat in his chair during the break, he kept moving an ice pack around his face, head and neck.<\/p>\n

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Navone won the first in a tiebreaker and things eventually got much worse for Djokovic, who threw up at least once and later appeared to be cramping when he grabbed at his left foot. Djokovic swallowed pills brought to him by a doctor and had his lower back massaged during a medical timeout between the fourth and fifth sets, and he grimaced after several shots.<\/p>\n

Djokovic made 70 unforced errors in a painful performance that ended a few minutes before midnight.<\/p>\n

“It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year: vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there,” Djokovic said. “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.”<\/p>\n

What’s next?<\/p>\n

Where does Djokovic go from here? While he hasn’t openly discussed an imminent retirement, one final hurrah at the Australian Open \u2014 the Grand Slam tournament he’s won a record 10 times \u2014 in January would be a fitting setting for a final send-off.<\/p>\n

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Or he could continue competing into his 40s.<\/p>\n

After all, Djokovic has reached two Grand Slam finals and six semifinals over the last three years.<\/p>\n

“I feel when I’m healthy, I’m still able to play as a top-five player, still able to compete at the highest level,” Djokovic said after his semifinal loss to Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon this year.<\/p>\n

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s physical issues<\/p>\n

Djokovic is the last man still competing among the Big Three players who dominated the game over the last two decades.<\/p>\n

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Roger Federer (knee) and Rafael Nadal (hip) also struggled with physical issues before they retired in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Federer was 41 when he stopped and Nadal was 38.<\/p>\n

Djokovic’s 24 major titles are two more than Nadal’s 22 and four more than Federer’s 20. Those numbers prompt some to consider Djokovic tennis’ GOAT.<\/p>\n

“That’s OK. He has done incredible,” Federer said last week. “It’s amazing what he has been able to do and still now. I would have thought that maybe he was getting to a place where all of a sudden we would see a much bigger decline.”<\/p>\n

Now \u2014 perhaps \u2014 Djokovic is declining more severely.<\/p>\n

Also in the news: Shelley Fabares, ‘Johnny Angel’ Singer And Veteran Actor, Dies At 82<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP’s full tennis coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n

Entertainment UpdatesThis article<\/a> originally appeared on HuffPost. Support fearless, unflinching journalism that holds power accountable and relentlessly pursues the truth. Become a HuffPost member today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like this article? Keep independent journalism alive. Support HuffPost. Novak Djokovic\u00a0waved goodbye, made a heart shape with his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1086,23596,2229,366,274,28],"class_list":["post-61432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-djokovic","tag-djokovic-said","tag-federer","tag-grand-slam","tag-nadal","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61432","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=61432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}