Djokovic in tears after four hours and 36 minutes, and out of a Grand Slam in the first round for the first time in twenty years

Novak Djokovic had not lost the opening match of a Grand Slam since January 2006. On Sunday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium, at 39, he was beaten by Mariano Navone 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 across four hours and 40 minutes, a match he finished having been treated for his back, having been sick at the side of the court, and having wept on his chair.

The Argentine, ranked World No. 49, becomes the first man to remove Djokovic in the first round of a major since Paul Goldstein at the 2006 Australian Open, and only the second Argentine ever to beat him at a Grand Slam, after Guillermo Coria at Roland-Garros in 2005. Djokovic had won 37 consecutive matches in the first two rounds at this tournament alone across twenty main-draw appearances.

Navone plays the winner between Italian Matteo Berrettini and Swiss wild card Stan Wawrinka, who is playing the last US Open of his career.

The Argentinian had led by a set and then lost two, and he trailed by a break in the fourth. From 2-2 in that set the match belonged to him. He took it 6-2 and the fifth 6-1, losing three games across the last two sets combined.

“I was a break up in the fourth, but just struggled all the way since the fourth game of the match,” Djokovic said afterwards.

A problem Djokovic says has followed him all season

What the crowd watched was not a one-night collapse. Djokovic took a medical timeout before the deciding set, with the physio working on his back, and he vomited courtside and kept playing. He said in his press conference that the same thing has been happening to him for months. It was obvious in Rome and again in Cincinnati, where he lost his opening match on both occasions.

“I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year. Vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there. Then my whole body starts to collapse, basically cramping and pain. The back just gave up in the end and shoulder, and I couldn’t close it out.”

Asked whether it is something he can fix, he did not claim to know. “I don’t know. I’m trying, man. I’m trying. Let’s see.”

He was equally unwilling to draw conclusions from the past few months. “I’m not going that deep right now,” Djokovic said. “I’m just, like, trying to address really what’s going on and how far I can go this way.” That season reads better than the sentence suggests. Djokovic is 14-7 in 2026, and 10 of those wins came at the Grand Slams, where he reached the Australian Open final and the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Djokovic “didn’t want to give up”

He also confirmed that he had thought about stopping, and that winning the second and third sets changed his mind.

“I have, I have. I have, but then I won a set and then a third one,” he said. “Then I was, like, okay, maybe there is a chance. I didn’t want to give up in fourth or fifth, so I wanted to kind of finish the match.”

At 1-3 in the fifth he was in tears on the changeover while the New York crowd tried to lift him into one more recovery. The two things he took from the night sit directly against each other.

“I pretty much despised every moment that I spent on the court,” Djokovic said. “But from the perspective of the crowd and support, it was incredible, honestly from the beginning. They were trying to lift me up in important moments, and I’m very sorry that I didn’t perform as well as I should have or could have or wanted for them. But the love and appreciation they gave me in the end really touched my heart.”

The end of the twenty-year run drew no reaction at all. “It’s a good record, another one,” he said. “But I’m not really thinking about it. Of course, I’ve been very proud of all the achievements in the past, but now is now. Now is fresh off the court and still trying to manage my body.”

For Navone it is the second US Open main-draw win of his career and his second top-10 win. “It’s the best thing I’ve felt on a court,” the 25-year-old said. “This amazing court, the biggest stage, it’s amazing. Five sets against the GOAT. Not something you do every day. I’m very happy. I don’t know what I can say.”

Asked what it meant to beat a player he grew up idolizing, he was brief. “It means a lot for me. It’s a dream come true, certainly, 100%. Now I have to recover. It’s almost 12 am. We have to go to sleep.”

What the defeat costs

Djokovic came to New York chasing a 25th Grand Slam singles title. He is now expected to fall out of the top 10 for the first time in eight years. It is also, by one reckoning, the first Grand Slam second round since 2003 that will contain none of Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.

Extrait

Novak Djokovic wept on his chair at 1-3 in the fifth set and lost a Grand Slam first round for the first time since January 2006, beaten 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 by Mariano Navone after four hours and 40 minutes. Afterwards he said the vomiting and cramping have followed him through almost every match of 2026, and that he does not know if it can be fixed.