since his loss to top-ranked Jannik Sinner<\/a> in the semifinals at Wimbledon.<\/p>\nUp next for Djokovic is the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 30 in New York.<\/p>\n
Djokovic appeared to struggle physically in the heat and had his 10-match winning streak in Cincinnati snapped. The 39-year-old told reporters that an unspecified health condition made it difficult for him to play in hot and humid weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a condition that I have, health-wise, that has been bothering me for the past couple of years,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cA lot of issues, especially when it is humid and it is hot. I did anticipate it (would be humid), but there are all these things, like nerves and everything involved that make it worse, and that\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic has had plenty of success in Cincinnati, with a 45-13 record and titles in 2018, 2020 and 2023. But he wasn\u2019t sure he would return.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly hope so, but it looks more likely not, unfortunately,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cBut let\u2019s see what the future brings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic saved 13 of the 15 break points he faced. Tirante broke Djokovic\u2019s serve in the ninth game of the final set and then served it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is the best win of my career,\u201d Tirante said. \u201cI think I really did a good job inside the court. I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eala and Pegula win in women\u2019s draw<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, Alexandra Eala of the Philippines continued her run of strong play with a victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who lost the first set and stopped playing in the second with an ankle injury. Eala \u2014 who is No. 20 in the rankings \u2014 won her first WTA singles title in Washington earlier this month and has won eight of her last nine matches.<\/p>\n
American Jessica Pegula beat Simona Waltert 6-3, 6-2, improving her record to 25-6 on hard courts in 2026. The third-ranked Pegula won the title in Cincinnati in 2024.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full tennis coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MASON, Ohio (AP) \u2014 Novak Djokovic\u2019s stay at the Cincinnati Open was a short one. It also might…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1003846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[12658,2841,10595,136349,1824,21487,9125,1574,1573,245554,62,1464,233008,67,132,68,2071,14374],"class_list":["post-1003845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexandra-eala","tag-argentina","tag-cincinnati","tag-elena-ruse","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-oh-state-wire","tag-ohio","tag-simona-waltert","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-thiago-agustin-tirante","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-championships"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117103566969848509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}