Djokovic's US Open First-Round Exit Raises Questions About His Grand Slam Future

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The Serb has his heart set on defending Olympic title in 2028 but his ageing body is screaming a resounding ‘no’

As the scoreline continued to cascade and the prospect of Novak Djokovic winning even one match in New York this year became increasingly remote, the 24-time grand slam title winner’s suffering and toil drove the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to its feet in the early hours of Monday morning. With Djokovic trailing 3-1 in the fifth set, thousands of spectators stood in unison to salute their champion and urge him on. The moment reduced Djokovic to tears.

This was quite a familiar scene. Five years ago, the same crowd similarly offered a tearful Djokovic a standing ovation as his match against Daniil Medvedev slipped away. The circumstances surrounding those results, however, could have hardly been any different. Back in 2021, Djokovic stood three sets away from winning the calendar year grand slam, the ultimate achievement. Here, he was losing in the first round of the US Open against a clay-court specialist ranked outside the top 50, an opponent he would usually crush with disdain.

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