Novak Djokovic lost in the first round of the US Open on Sunday night, beaten by Mariano Navone 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in four hours and 36 minutes. Afterward he described the reason in terms that were not new. The vomiting, he said, has been happening “pretty much every match this year.” He added that his body then begins to cramp, and that his back and shoulder gave out before he could close the match.
That account matters more than the upset. It converts a shock result into a documented condition, and it confirms a pattern that has been visible on hard courts since the middle of August.
The precedent was three weeks old. Djokovic lost his opening match at the Cincinnati Open on Aug. 15 to Thiago Agustin Tirante, took a medical timeout, and appeared sick on court in humid conditions. He had led that match by a set. He led on Sunday too, ahead 3-0 and 4-1 in the first, before losing it in a tiebreak. In both matches the pattern was identical — competitive while fresh, then a physical failure that ended the contest well before the scoreline did.
The collapse is measurable. Djokovic made 70 unforced errors, 29 of them in the final two sets. Navone won 63.3 percent of the points across the fourth and fifth, according to CBS Sports. Djokovic took four games in that stretch. He threw up at least once, later grabbed at his left foot, and was moving badly by the fifth. His wife, Jelena, watched from the stands.
The records that fell are unusually deep. The defeat ended a run of 78 consecutive opening-round wins at majors, the longest by any man in the Open era. It was Djokovic’s first defeat in the opening round at Flushing Meadows in 20 attempts, and his first at any major since the 2006 Australian Open, when Paul Goldstein beat him.
At four hours and 36 minutes it was the longest first-round match of his career and his third-longest at this tournament. It also means the second round of a major will proceed without Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal for the first time since the 2003 French Open.
The ranking consequence is immediate. Djokovic arrived as the world No. 5 and was seeded fourth after Jannik Sinner withdrew with a knee injury. He was defending 800 points from last year’s semifinal run. The live rankings place him 11th, which would put him outside the top 10 for the first time since July 2018. With the tournament in its early stages, that figure can still move.
Navone is 25, from Argentina, and ranked just inside the top 50. He won his first ATP title earlier this year and had lost all four of his previous five-set matches on tour. The win was his second over a top-10 opponent, after beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in Rome. He said afterward that facing Djokovic on that court was the best experience he had had in the sport.
Djokovic, who is 39 and has spent three years chasing a 25th major, said he is trying to work out what is happening to him and how much further he can go this way. He did not say whether he would play again this season.
