New York [US], August 31 : Serbian tennis star and Olympic Gold Medal winner Novak Djokovic crashed out of the ongoing US Open in the third round as Alexei Popyrin of Australia downed the Olympic champion by 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a shocker.
Popyrin hit 50 winners in his effort while Djokovic wrote his own downfall to some extent with a career-high 14 double faults. It was the second shocker of the tournament, with 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz losing out to underladed Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round.
After his shock exit Djokovic said that focus on securing a Paris Olympics gold medal had an effect on his performance at the ongoing US Open and he came to New York "not feeling fresh".
Speaking after the win as quoted by the ATP website, Djokovic said, "Obviously it has an effect. I spent a lot of energy winning the gold and I did arrive in New York not feeling fresh. I tried my best, I did not have any physical issues. I just felt out of gas, and you could see that. From the first match I just did not find myself on this court."
"Life moves on. I will try to recalibrate and look forward to what is next," he added.
Following his win, Popyrin said that he was able to take his chances in the match and to reach the fourth round by beating the "greatest of all time" is unbelievable.
"Third time lucky [this year] I guess. Honestly, we had some battles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. I had my chances in those matches, but did not take them. This match was a little different. I was able to take my chances when I had them and played some good tennis," said Popyrin.
"It is unbelievable because I have been in the third round about 15 times in my career, but I have not been able to get past to the fourth round. To be able to do it against the greatest of all time to get into the fourth round is unbelievable. It is a great feeling and the hard work has paid off," he added.
With the biggest win of his career, Popyrin has ended Djokovic's dream of shattering his record-extending 25th Grand Slam title and 100th career title. He had earlier pushed the Serbian to four sets in the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year and had come into the game with a 0-3 record against the tennis icon.
Popyrin was also a winner of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal this month and he jumped to a career-best of number 23 in ATP Rankings.
The last time Djokovic ended a season without a Grand Slam title was back in 2017. Since 2002, not a season has gone by without Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal securing a major title.
Popyrin will facing home favourite Francis Tiafoe in the fourth round.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor