On a rather pleasant morning in Bengaluru, as yours truly switched on the TV to watch some US Open action, the eyes zoomed in on the scoreline of Novak Djokovic’s third round match against Alexei Popyrin. The Australian had won the first two sets. You still wondered whether Djokovic would make one of those magical comebacks and close it out in five sets. The reality turned out to be different, as after losing the third set, Popyrin closed out the match in four.
For starters, Popyrin deserves all the credit for putting in a stellar performance. He was willing to wait before pulling the trigger. He employed the backhand slice to good effect and at crucial moments, he was able to up his game in order to save and convert break points. In the third set, he made as many as 19 unforced errors — more than the first two sets combined — but Popyrin found an erase button in his mind to forget what took place in the previous set and regained his rhythm.
This was not the Popyrin who had enough self-doubts about his game while playing a top player. This was version 2.0 of who had recently won the Montreal Masters. “Third time lucky I guess,” Popyrin said after the match. “Honestly, we had some battles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. I had my chances in those matches, but didn’t take them. This match was a little different. I was able to take my chances when I had them and played some good tennis.
“It’s unbelievable because I’ve been in the third round about 15 times in my career, but I haven’t 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’s a great feeling and the hard work has paid off,” he added.
But what about Djokovic? The loss meant that for the first time since 2017, Djokovic couldn’t win a single major through the course of the year. He was hitting a significant portion of his ground-shots long, and enough of his slices were finding the net. Djokovic even made as many as 14 double faults.
Djokovic said: “It was an awful match for me. I spent a lot of energy winning the (Olympic) gold, and I did arrive in New York just not feeling fresh mentally and physically. But because it’s the US Open, I gave it a shot and I tried my best. I didn’t have any physical issues. I just felt out of gas and you could see that with the way I played. Just from the very beginning, from the first match, I just didn’t find myself at all on this court. It’s all I can say. Life moves on. [I’ll] just try and recalibrate and look for what’s next.”
So, is it the end of an era? After all, this was the first time since 2002 that none of the Big 3 — Roger Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal — won a major. When it comes to Djokovic, only time will tell whether he is past his best. Despite all those setbacks in tournaments and majors, alongside suffering a knee injury, Djokovic did win the gold medal in singles at the Olympics.
Having said that, Djokovic’s aura seems to be slowly slipping away. There was a time when the mere presence of Djokovic at the other side of the net seemed to be enough to instill that fear in his opponents. Not so much now. Next year, Djokovic will be 38, and logically, it will only get tougher for the 24-time Grand Slam champion to maintain his standards.
In other sporting news:
Super Moments
Though Sheetal Devi lost, the spectators in the stands applauded her incredible effort. Global media were present to document her story.
Relive the special moment of @ArcherSheetal.@BoriaMajumdar @PCI_IN_Official #Paralympics2024 pic.twitter.com/3ywLhFmkiw
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 1, 2024
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