Betrayed by his body and brought to tears, Novak Djokovic’s run at this U.S. Open is done before it got started.
The Greatest of All Time knocked out by Father Time.
And by Argentine Mariano Navone, who won 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a 4-hour, 36-minute marathon at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It begs the question of whether it was Djokovic’s swan song in Flushing, so ugly was it down the stretch and so compromised was the Serb.
Djokovic had won 37 straight first- and second-round matches at the U.S. Open. He hadn’t lost this early in any major in 20 years, since a first-round exit in Australia in 2006.
But going for his 25th Grand Slam title — and fifth in Flushing — Djokovic played through three or four bouts of nausea and cramps, needed an inhaler, a medical timeout and two pills from doctors. Once his back tightened up and his serve deserted him, this went from a match to a requiem.
For the 48th-ranked Navone, it became the biggest win of his life.
“For sure, it was amazing, the biggest stage. It’s amazing. Yeah, I’m very happy. I don’t know what can I say. … It means a lot for me,” Navone said in an on-court interview.
Speaking of beating a player he idolized: “It was very tough for me. It was like a dream come true, 100 percent. … It’s amazing to play with this crowd, this energy. I want to come back in the week, hopefully.”
Djokovic refused to retire but was in tears down the stretch.
The 39-year-old was not just under the weather, some will say over the hill. He’d thrown up and needed treatment two weeks ago in Cincinnati, suffering an upset loss and acknowledging he’s been suffering with a mystery medical condition. Many will suggest the ailment is simply called age.
On Sunday, Djokovic vomited multiple times on the court and the towel box, then suffered left leg cramps and used an inhaler on the fourth set changeover.
His back was the final straw. Djokovic had a break lead in the fourth set when it tightened up. He only took one more game the rest of the way.
After taking a quick 3-0 lead early, he started to struggle physically.
Up 5-4, Djokovic called for a trainer, who gave him a pill, but it didn’t keep Navone from taking the first set. Djokovic sailed a forehand long to give Navone set point. When he drilled a forehand into the net, he had dropped the first set.
It had been a 1-hour, 13-minute marathon affair, during which Djokovic had looked more deflated than defeated, which was even worse. But in the second set, he started to move better and figured out Navone’s second serve.
Down 4-3, Djokovic won a 29-shot rally with a flawless backhand down the line to go up 40-15, then held to knot the set at 4-4.
He held in cutthroat fashion to take the set, reeling off four straight points on pinpoint serves to win 7-5 and even the match. He wrested away the momentum, taking the third set 6-4.
At 4-4 and 40-30, Djokovic’s defensive save got the crowd going. When he got the break — Navone firing into the net — Djokovic put his hand behind his ear to call for more noise. Djokovic converted his third set point to take the lead.
It proved temporary.
After developing a cramp in his left foot in the fourth set, Djokovic’s back seemed to tighten. He was broken to go down 4-2 with his serve completely toothless, often in double digits. That’s when Navone took the last two games and the set 6-2.
Djokovic took a medical timeout. A trainer was ready to rub some sort of cream on his lower back, while a doctor gave him more pills. After having taken the lead off free points he garnered on his first serve, that edge was now gone.
Navone pounced on that Achilles’ heel..
