A genuine sensation unfolded at the start of the season's final Grand Slam in New York. The 39-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic, one of the most decorated tennis players in history, was eliminated from the US Open in the very first round, losing to Argentina's Mariano Navone. The match ended 7:6 (7:5), 5:7, 4:6, 6:2, 6:1 in favor of the 24-year-old Argentine and lasted four hours and forty minutes. For one of the tournament's main favorites, this turn of events came as a real shock to fans and experts alike.
Match timeline: from confident lead to collapse
At first, the match unfolded quite heroically for the Serbian. After three sets, Djokovic was leading, and he started the fourth set even more confidently: he broke serve and went up 2:1. It was precisely at this moment that the game sharply turned. According to the data cited in the source materials, after this turning point Novak lost 11 of the next 12 games, which effectively decided the outcome of the match. Navone, by contrast, gathered momentum and closed out his opponent in the fifth set, winning it 6:1.
Pain and tears on the court
One of the most emotional moments of the match was that, with the score at 3:1 in the deciding set, Djokovic was seen in tears right on the court. The Serbian later confirmed that he was playing through severe pain at the end of the match. These details, recorded by journalists, explain the sharp drop in the quality of play by the leader in the fourth and fifth sets and add drama to the entire story of his elimination.
Historical context of the defeats
For Djokovic, this is his first loss in the opening round of the US Open in 20 appearances in the tournament's main draw. Previously, he had to play the full five-set distance at this stage twice: in 2005 it was Gael Monfils who forced him to, and in 2010 — Viktor Troicki. In a broader perspective, this is already the third time in the Serbian's career that he has lost in the first round of a Grand Slam, and the first in more than 20 years. The two previous such defeats occurred at the Australian Open in 2005 and 2006.
Consequences for the ATP ranking
The main long-term consequence of this defeat will be a change in positions in the world rankings. Following the US Open, Novak Djokovic will leave the ATP top 10 for the first time since 2018. For a player of his generation and status, this is a symbolic threshold that just a few years ago seemed unattainable. Nevertheless, the very fact of the sensational first-round exit remains the main storyline of the start of the American major.
