Australia’s Alexei Popyrin celebrates after his third spherical match win over Serbia’s Novak Djokovic on the U.S. Open tennis championship in New York on August 30, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: Reuters
Defending champion Novak Djokovic was shocked on the U.S. Open one night time after Carlos Alcaraz was, bowing out within the third spherical with a 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 loss to Twenty eighth-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia on Friday (August 30, 2024) night time.
The No. 2-seeded Djokovic was making an attempt to turn out to be the primary participant in tennis historical past with 25 Grand Slam singles titles. As a substitute, he finishes a yr with out claiming a minimum of one main championship for the primary time since 2017. Earlier than that, it hadn’t occurred since 2010.
Additionally of word: 2024 now turns into the primary season since 2002 wherein not one of the Massive Three of males’s tennis — Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — earned a Slam trophy.
The third-round exit equals Djokovic’s worst displaying at Flushing Meadows; the one different events he was crushed that early on the U.S. Open got here in 2005 and 2006. The person who defeated Djokovic 18 years in the past, Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame member Lleyton Hewitt, is now Australia’s Davis Cup captain and was sitting in Popyrin’s visitor field in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic of Serbia greets the group after his third spherical match loss to Australia’s Alexei Popyrin.
| Picture Credit score:
Reuters
Djokovic, who’s 37, has reached the ultimate in Ashe 10 instances, leaving with the title in 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2023.
On Friday (August 30, 2024), although, he double-faulted 14 instances and appeared bodily sluggish and emotionally flat, maybe residual fatigue after amassing his first Olympic gold medal for Serbia by beating Alcaraz within the ultimate on the Paris Video games earlier in August.
The No. 3-seeded Alcaraz entered the U.S. Open because the match favourite having gained the French Open and Wimbledon, and acknowledged his vitality was decrease than he realized after getting eradicated in New York by 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday night time.
Djokovic then changed Alcaraz because the money-line decide to take the lads’s title, in response to BetMGM Sportsbook, however that standing did not final lengthy in any respect.
