Novak Djokovic is out of the US Open in the first round. The man who beat him was Mariano Navone, ranked 49th in the world, and it took four hours and thirty-six minutes.
This is only the third time a 24-time major singles champion has lost a Grand Slam opening round. The previous occasion was the 2006 Australian Open — twenty years ago almost to the season. At the US Open specifically, it has never happened to him before.
📌 1. Four Hours and Thirty-Six Minutes
The match was played on August 30 local time at Flushing Meadows in New York.
- Final result — Djokovic 2, Navone 3
- Sets — 6-7(5-7), 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6
- Duration — 4 hours 36 minutes
- Djokovic — fourth seed, world number five
- Navone — Argentina, world number 49
The scoreline looks close until you reach the end of it. The last two sets were 2-6 and 1-6. Djokovic led two sets to one and then won three games across the remainder of the match.
⚔️ 2. How the Match Turned
Set by set, it went like this.
He lost the first set on a 7-5 tiebreak, took the second 7-5, and took the third 6-4 to lead two sets to one. Up to that point it was recognisably Djokovic. Then he dropped the fourth 2-6, received treatment on his back on court before the fifth, and managed a single game in the decider.
Total games won: Djokovic 22, Navone 28. What four and a half hours means for a 39-year-old is contained in that split.
👥 3. The Two Records Side by Side
The players who walked onto that court had very different résumés.
One of them shares the all-time record for major singles titles with Margaret Court at 24. The other is ranked 49th and did not receive a seeding. Forty-four ranking places separated them, and the result went the other way.
For Navone this is likely to be the line that follows him for the rest of his career: beating a 24-time major champion over five sets in a Grand Slam first round.
📖 4. What "Since 2006" Actually Means
Djokovic has lost a Grand Slam first round three times, and the last one was the 2006 Australian Open. He was eighteen then, with no major titles at all.
In the twenty years since, he has never once gone out in an opening round. He has withdrawn injured, but he has never lost the first match. His most recent major title was the 2023 US Open, which now leaves close to three years without one.
🎾 5. What Sinner's Absence Did to the Draw
This tournament was already unusual before the first ball.
- World number one Jannik Sinner — not playing
- First seed — Alexander Zverev, world number two
- Second seed — Carlos Alcaraz, world number three, defending champion
- Third seed — Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number four
- Fourth seed — Novak Djokovic, world number five
With the world number one absent, every seed moved up a place. Now the fourth seed has gone in round one as well. Alcaraz is returning to singles after roughly four months out with a right wrist injury sustained in Barcelona in April, so his match sharpness is an open question. The top half of the draw has effectively been vacated, which puts players like Taylor Fritz (10th) and Ben Shelton (9th) in unusually good positions.
🤔 6. The Question a 39-Year-Old Leaves Behind
What lost this match does not look like technique. Through three sets the tennis was fine. The problem arrived afterwards.
Best-of-five is a different physical event from anything else on tour. Surviving a fifth set after four and a half hours is less about strength than about how fast the body clears fatigue, and recovery speed is the first thing to go as a player approaches forty. The back treatment before the fifth set is the detail that says it plainly.
💰 7. A Tournament With a 108 Million Dollar Purse
Separately, this year's US Open set a financial record.
- Total player compensation — 108 million US dollars
- First tennis event ever to exceed 100 million
- Singles champions — 5.5 million dollars each
- Dates — August 30 through September 13
Day one produced an upset in the women's draw too. Barbora Krejcikova, a major champion, lost 6-7(4-7), 2-6 to Kamilla Rakhimova, the first former major winner out of the tournament. World number three Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, advanced comfortably at 6-3, 6-2.
💡 8. What I Took From It
I suspect I will remember this match by its duration rather than its result. Four hours and thirty-six minutes.
A younger Djokovic finishes that match in three sets, or four. This time it went the distance, and the distance is where it was decided. Only now that the streak is broken does it register how implausible it was to go twenty years without losing an opening round.
None of which means he is finished. The 24 is still there, and so is whatever it takes to drag a player like Navone through four and a half hours. What has changed is the condition attached: from here, he needs to win quickly.
✍️ A Name to Watch in September
So: the world number one is absent and the fourth seed went out in round one. Two weeks remain until the September 13 final, and the odds of a new name on the trophy look better than in any recent year.
The player I will be following is Alcaraz. Coming back to singles after four months, the early rounds are the danger. Clear those and the emptied top half of the draw becomes a real opening.
Who would you pick to win it?
Schedules and draws can change with player fitness and withdrawals. World rankings quoted are as of the start of the tournament and will move as it progresses.
Labels: US Open, Novak Djokovic, tennis, Mariano Navone, Grand Slam, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Flushing Meadows, mens singles, sports upset
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