A day after third seed Carlos Alcaraz crashed out, it was the turn of defending champion Novak Djokovic to be knocked out of US Open 2024. The Serbian tennis legend lost in four sets to 28th seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia in their third-round encounter on Friday, August 30. (Full Coverage | More Tennis News)
With that, Djokovic has failed to enter the US Open fourth round for the first time in 18 years. The 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6 defeat at the Arthur Ashe Stadium also means that Djokovic will end a year without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2017.
With the shock loss, Djokovic’s hopes of winning a record-extending 25th Grand Slam men's singles title and 100th career title went up in smoke.
While Popyrin set the tone with 50 winners, Djokovic dug his own grave by serving a career-high 14 double faults in a Grand Slam match.
Popyrin will now meet home favourite Frances Tiafoe in the former's maiden fourth-round appearance at the US Open. Tiafoe earlier defeated fellow American and last year’s semi-finalist Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in a marathon match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“It’s unbelievable because I’ve been in the third round about 15 times in my career, but I haven’t been able to get past to the fourth round,” Popyrin said after his win. “To be able to do it against the greatest of all time to get into the fourth round is unbelievable. It’s a great feeling and the hard work has paid off.”
