By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, August 31, 2024
Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
NEW YORK—Pausing to acknowledge cheering fans, Novak Djokovic spun and waved to the Arthur Ashe crowd.
A master of so many final Sundays, the Grand Slam king walked out of this US Open in a stunning Friday night loss to Alexei Popyrin.
More: Depleted Djokovic on What Went Wrong
The end of the line for Djokovic marked the end of an era for Grand Slam tennis.
Djokovic’s defeat means that for the first season since 2002 none of the iconic Big 3 champions—Djokovic, Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer—raised a Grand Slam title trophy.
Hall of Famer Pete Sampras, Djokovic’s tennis hero, defeated archrival Andre Agassi in the 2002 US Open final in his farewell tournament.
The following year, Federer defeated Mark Philippoussis in his maiden major final at Wimbledon to capture the first of his 20 Grand Slam titles.
Since Federer’s 2003 Wimbledon win a Big 3 champion had won at least one major championship—Djokovic won three of the four Grand Slam crowns in 2023—every single year until now.
Four-time US Open champion, who underwent knee surgery in June, expended physical and emotional energy capturing the Olympic gold medal for Serbia at the Paris Olympics eight weeks after surgery.
A depleted Djokovic, who did not play a hard-court tune-up tournament in preparation for his US Open title defense, said he ran out of gas.
“I spent a lot of energy winning the gold, and I did arrive to New York just not feeling fresh mentally and physically,” Djokovic said. “But because it’s US Open, you know, I gave it a shot and I tried my best. I mean, I didn’t have any physical issues. I just felt out of gas, you know, and you could see that with the way I played.
“Just from the very beginning, from the first match, I just didn’t find myself at all on this court. It’s all I can say, you know. You know, life moves on. I mean, yeah, just try and recalibrate and look for what’s next.“
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