RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Novak Djokovic of Serbia falls against Mariano Navone of Argentina during first-round match at the US Open. Mike Stobe via Getty Images
NEW YORK — He moped around the court for most of the 4 hours, 36 minutes he spent at Arthur Ashe Stadium, applied ice bags to his head every few minutes as he grimaced in agony and in certain moments looked like he was barely interested in making his stay at the US Open a long one.
Here was arguably the greatest men’s tennis player of all time, drained and dizzy just a handful of games into his first-round match Monday against Mariano Navone. As the night went on, here was the most physically fit athlete in the history of the sport visibly struggling to endure long points without looking like a staggering boxer who needs the ropes to keep him from falling down.
And finally, here was one of the great competitors in all of sports giving in, his body screaming at him that enough is enough.
Will Novak Djokovic finally listen?
For so long, Djokovic has done things that 39-year old tennis players were not meant to do. On Monday night, that battle finally turned in the direction of time and mortality.
For the first time since the 2006 Australian Open, Djokovic lost in the first round of a major. He lost 7-6, 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to Navone not because he has lost any skills or desire but because he has a body he can no longer tame on command.
A body that, on Monday night, was crouching to the ground after long points, was so exhausted that it stumbled into his chair during changeovers and was so generally unwell that on multiple occasions he went to the corner to vomit into his towel box.
And then, in the middle of the fifth game of the fifth set, when Djokovic knew it was lost, he stood behind the baseline and sobbed.
“I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me,” Djokovic said. “I struggled since the fourth game of the match. I don’t want to take too much (away from) his win. Congrats to him. He’s a nice guy, fighter, but you know, I didn’t enjoy myself.”
DJOKOVIC, QUEBRADO EN PLENO PARTIDO. 😢 📺 Mirá el #USOpen en el Plan Premium de Disney Plus. pic.twitter.com/j68EFhXDvK
— ESPN Tenis (@ESPNtenis) August 31, 2026
We need to first put this into context. Djokovic is still accomplishing things in tennis that would be career-making for hundreds of others on the tour. He made the Australian Open final earlier this year and the Wimbledon semis just last month.
But the issues are piling up — and Sunday was the ultimate manifestation of what Djokovic called “a condition that I have, health-wise, that has been bothering me for the past couple of years” after a loss in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago where he looked similarly exhausted almost from the start.
What exactly is ailing Djokovic? He hasn’t said specifically, but whatever it is, it gets exacerbated by heat and humidity — not a great combination for a sport played mostly outdoors and in warm weather. Asked Monday night if this issue was something he could fix, his response was not reassuring.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m trying, man. I’m trying. Let’s see.”
It is certainly Djokovic’s right to maintain a degree of medical privacy. But the more this happens as he winds down his career, the more uncomfortable it will be to watch the greatest champion in men’s tennis come to terms with his physical reality and the more questions we will all have about why he’s still doing this.
After 24 Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and everything he ever wanted out of this game, his reward is self-inflicted suffering every time the wet bulb temperature ticks a few degrees too high?
“I’m not going that deep right now,” he said. “I’m just like trying to address what’s really going on and how far I can go this way.”
Over the last couple years, the Djokovic trend has been to come to Grand Slams underprepared, spend too long on court in the early rounds and have nothing left for Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner by the time he reaches the semifinals. That’s the trade-off for getting old and not being able to train as hard or play as many matches as he used to.
Djokovic has decided to focus solely on Grand Slams and trying to win No. 25, but the plan cannot work if he’s having to empty the tank on Day 1 against an Argentinian clay-courter whose record on hard courts was 12-29 coming into this match. Even if Djokovic had advanced, it’s hard to imagine how he could have recovered enough to make a deep run.
Tennis is one of those sports where the physical effort required to be elite does not necessarily translate to television, largely because these guys are so good. Djokovic is now at the stage where he’s making even the mundane look like a grind.
Yes, Djokovic’s career has been marked by moments where his on-court physical struggles have seemed a bit theatrical, but only because of how many times he managed to push through them and emerge holding a trophy.
This was different. In the first set, Djokovic looked so unsteady on his feet and so disinterested in the constructing points that he looked like he was in a rush to go home regardless of result. Then he took a couple tablets and seemed like he was starting to feel better, taking control of the match by winning the next two sets.
Up a break in the fourth set, it looked like Djokovic would survive. Then his body collapsed again — this time, a back flare-up in addition to everything else. By the fifth set, he could barely twist and lift off the ground enough to hit a decent serve.
“My whole body starts to collapse,” he said. “When it comes to the match itself and the overall feeling of how I felt with the body, playing was really not enjoyable. Pretty much despised every moment I spent on court. But from the perspective of the crowd, it was incredible. From the beginning, they were trying to lift me up in important moments and I’m sorry that I didn’t perform as well as I should have or could have wanted.”
It was hard to wat...
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