Novak Djokovic's US Open ended before it truly began. The four-time champion and No. 5 seed was eliminated in the first round on Sunday night, beaten by Argentine qualifier-turned-late-bloomer Mariano Navone in a five-set marathon at Arthur Ashe Stadium — the earliest exit Djokovic has suffered at a Grand Slam in two decades, and the first time he has ever lost in the opening round of the US Open.
Navone won a four-hour, 36-minute battle 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, the longest opening-round match of Djokovic's career. Djokovic finished with 70 unforced errors and 10 double faults, numbers that reflect a physical collapse rather than a tactical one. He had entered the match with a 42-12 career record in five-set matches; Navone, by contrast, had lost all four of his previous five-setters.
A lead lost in the heat
The match flow tells the real story. Djokovic dropped the opening tiebreak but rallied to take the second and third sets, going up two sets to one against a player he had never faced. From there, he faded. Navone swept the fourth set 6-2 and the fifth 6-1 as Djokovic, visibly laboring between points, could not sustain the level that had carried him through 24 major titles. Djokovic said afterward that he had been fighting illness for months. "It's something that I've been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year: vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there," he said, adding that his back and shoulder gave out as the match wore on.
The defeat is Djokovic's earliest Grand Slam exit since a first-round loss at the 2006 Australian Open, ending a run of 20 years in which he had reached at least the second round of every major he entered. It also has immediate consequences for the rankings: Djokovic, seeded No. 5 in New York, will fall out of the ATP top 10 for the first time since July 2018, dropping the 790 points he earned reaching last year's semifinal. With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both long retired, his slide marks the first time since October 2002 that none of tennis's "Big Three" has held a top-10 ranking.
A career-best night for Navone
For Navone, 25 and ranked No. 49 in the world, the win is the signature result of his career. He described the occasion on the ATP Tour's own site as a childhood dream realized against a player he grew up idolizing.
It was very tough for me because you are playing with the "GOAT" on this court. For sure it's the best thing I've had on court. This is an amazing court and the biggest stage.
Mariano Navone
Djokovic, for his part, did not dispute the result. "I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me," he said, before adding that he simply "couldn't close it out" once his body stopped cooperating in the closing sets. The match was previewed on the tournament's official site as a routine opener for the No. 5 seed; instead it produced one of the biggest first-round upsets in recent US Open history.
The loss leaves Djokovic's short-term plans uncertain. His grip on a spot at this year's ATP Finals, a tournament he has qualified for every year since 2017, is now in question, and his ranking could slide further depending on how this week plays out for the players just below him. There was no immediate word from his camp on his next tournament.
Navone, meanwhile, moves into the second round for the second straight year at Flushing Meadows, where he will face the winner of Monday's match between Stan Wawrinka and Matteo Berrettini. Whatever happens next, Sunday night at Arthur Ashe will stand as the moment a 25-year-old outsider ended, at least for now, an era in which a member of tennis's Big Three was always ranked among the sport's top 10.
