{"id":756237,"date":"2026-09-01T02:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756237\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T02:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:56:09","slug":"us-open-2026-results-novak-djokovics-tearful-exit-leaves-tennis-greats-future-more-uncertain-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/756237\/","title":{"rendered":"US Open 2026 results: Novak Djokovic’s tearful exit leaves tennis great’s future more uncertain than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Be warned: Novak Djokovic has made a fool of those who have doubted him before.<\/p>\n

Some questioned if the Serb would challenge for the sport’s top honours again after he dropped out of the world’s top 20 amid a two-year major title drought in 2018.<\/p>\n

Djokovic proceeded to win four of the following five Grand Slams, doubling his tally of majors with 12 across the next six years.<\/p>\n

But three years have now passed since he landed his men’s record 24th major title at the US Open.<\/p>\n

And, as the 39-year-old fought back tears mid-match on Sunday night, this latest loss in New York<\/a> felt different.<\/p>\n

Staring at a first opening-round Grand Slam exit since 2006, one of sport’s all-time greats simply had nothing left, beaten 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-1 by Argentina’s Navone.<\/p>\n

For so long now Djokovic has not only defied time, but appeared to be improving with it.<\/p>\n

That was evident at this year’s Wimbledon, where he outlasted Felix Auger-Aliassime, 14 years his junior, in a five-set thriller<\/a> that became the longest quarter-final in the tournament’s history.<\/p>\n

Even in his late 30s, Djokovic has been the one challenging Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the new dominant forces in the men’s game.<\/p>\n

At the Australian Open in January, he ended Sinner’s bid<\/a> for a third-straight title in a sensational five-set comeback victory. He then led Alcaraz by a set in the final, before fading to a four-set defeat.<\/p>\n

After early exits in Paris and New York, there is an inevitable sense that Melbourne was his best chance to secure an outright record 25th major triumph and cap a career unparalleled in every statistical measure.<\/p>\n

Djokovic was despondent after the match, saying he “despised every moment I spent on the court for that”.<\/p>\n

“When it comes to the match itself, and the overall feeling of how I felt with my body and playing, it was really not enjoyable,” Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

“But, from the perspective of the crowd and support, it was incredible.<\/p>\n

“I’m very sorry that I didn’t perform as well as I should have, could have, or wanted – for them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Be warned: Novak Djokovic has made a fool of those who have doubted him before. Some questioned if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-756237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}