Djokovic Loses in US Open First Round for First Time

Novak Djokovic was throwing up next to the court while US Open staff rubbed his back and tried to get him back on his feet. Before the fifth set he took a medical timeout for his back, and after that he could no longer serve at full strength. He kept playing anyway.

At some point in the fifth set, right as he won a game and the crowd roared, Djokovic broke down in tears. He knew there would be no comeback, according to nova.rs, which points to the high humidity in New York that night as the cause of his physical collapse. He had huge support from the stands, and got massages and medical attention throughout the match, but none of it was enough.

It was not the image fans have grown used to over the past two decades. It was, however, the last image of Novak’s 2026 US Open.

Mariano Navone, the 25 year old Argentine who came into the match ranked No. 49 in the ATP standings, won in five sets, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Sources differ on how long the match lasted: Sportklub puts it at 4 hours and 36 minutes, ESPN at 4 hours and 35 minutes, while nova.rs describes a fight that stretched “almost five hours.” However it’s measured, this was the toughest first-round match of Djokovic’s career at this tournament, since he had never before lost before the third round of the US Open.

The loss is historic on another count too. The last time Djokovic went out in the first round of any Grand Slam was the 2006 Australian Open, more than twenty years ago. At 39, he is still chasing his 25th Grand Slam title, a third straight year without a major trophy, and this defeat pushes that wait into 2027. For context on the career at stake: he has spent a combined 428 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

Navone, meanwhile, played the match of his career. It was his first five-set win, his first trip past the third round of a Grand Slam, and it came against a man nobody else on tour wanted to face. He saved 8 of 12 break points and won 11 of the last 12 games of the match. When it came time to close out the biggest match of his career, he did not flinch.

Djokovic himself was open after the match about what had been happening to him on court.

“I think it was obvious that I felt terrible on the court. Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with this in more or less every match this year. I throw up, and that’s a serious problem. After that my whole body starts to fall apart, cramps, pain. My back gave out in the end, and so did my shoulder.”

He said that at the post-match press conference, in a translation carried by Sportklub. He also admitted that at one point he considered retiring from the match.

“I was thinking about quitting, then I won a set, and then a third one too. Maybe there’s a chance, I thought. Later, in the fourth and fifth sets, I didn’t want to give up, I wanted to finish.”

He gave English-language media the same account in slightly different words. ESPN quoted him directly:

“When it comes to match itself and overall feeling of how I felt with body and playing, it was really not enjoyable. I pretty much despised every moment that I spent on the court for that.”

In the version carried by Sportklub for the domestic press, the same thought came out shorter: “I despised every moment I spent on the court, but the crowd was incredible.” B92 also quoted his description of the physical breakdown after the match: “My whole body started to collapse.”

Asked whether he can fix the stomach problem that has followed him for months, Djokovic kept it brief: “I don’t know. I’m trying. We’ll see.” He did not want to go into detail about how much longer he plans to keep playing at this level. “Right now I’m thinking about what’s happening and how much longer I can keep going like this,” he said.

It was a dark day for Serbian tennis beyond Djokovic’s match too. Earlier the same day, Miomir Kecmanovic was eliminated by Denis Shapovalov, and Hamad Medjedovic lost in three sets to Kamil Majchrzak. For the first time ever, all three Serbian players in a Grand Slam main draw went out in the first round. The streak goes back further still: for the first time since 2003, none of Djokovic, Nadal or Federer reached even the second round of a Grand Slam. This was the match we had previewed as Novak’s first appearance at this year’s US Open, played in the night session, against the same opponent, Mariano Navone.

What worried people most out of New York was not the result but the image: a champion vomiting next to the court and crying in the fifth set does not look like someone counting down the days to his next Grand Slam, but like someone counting how many he has left. The next shot at a 25th title does not come until January 2027, at the Australian Open, and the question Djokovic is taking home with him now is not whether he’ll play, but in what shape.