Novak Djokovic's Shocking Exit at US Open 2023

Novak Djokovic walked into Arthur Ashe Stadium chasing history. He left it bent over a courtside towel box, his body rebelling and his aura of invincibility cracked by a 25-year-old Argentine playing the match of his life.

World No 49 Mariano Navone stunned the 39-year-old in a brutal, four-hour 36-minute epic, winning 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 4-6 6-2 6-1 to end Djokovic’s bid for a record 25th Grand Slam and a fifth US Open crown.

It was the longest opening match of a major in Djokovic’s career. It was also his earliest exit at a Slam since the 2006 Australian Open. The numbers tell you it was an upset. The scenes on court told you something deeper: this was a champion’s body finally refusing to follow his will.

A legend wilts in the New York heat

The warning signs were there before a ball was struck in New York.

Two weeks earlier in Cincinnati, Djokovic had dropped to his knees and vomited into a towel during a defeat to Thiago Tirante, later admitting he had been managing a “health issue” for many years, one that flares in heat and humidity.

Conditions at Flushing Meadows were warm but not extreme. Still, midway through the opening set his cheeks were flushed, his shirt soaked, his hair plastered to his head. He had raced to a 3-0 lead, yet the effort already looked costly. Navone dragged him into longer exchanges, refused to blink, and stole the set in a tie-break.

Djokovic, 42-12 in five-set matches coming into the night, usually bends these marathons to his will. Navone, 0-4 in them, had no such history to lean on. He simply kept swinging.

The Serbian pushed to have the roof closed, trying to control what he could. His wife Jelena and their children watched tensely from the stands. The air conditioning kicked in. The sweat and the strain did not stop.

Vomit, breaks, and a body breaking down

Djokovic fought back like he always does.

Late in the second set, having already thrown up by the towel box, he broke for 6-5 and then served out the set. The crowd roared. The familiar script seemed to be reappearing: Djokovic suffering, Djokovic surviving, Djokovic turning the screw.

He was sick again midway through the third. He still found a way to grab the one break he needed and edge ahead two sets to one. At that point, with Navone having never won a five-setter, the outcome looked almost inevitable.

Then the match turned from physical test into ordeal.

Djokovic vomited once more at the start of the fourth, yet somehow broke for 2-1. The comeback appeared on track. But his movement was deteriorating by the game. After firing a shot wide later in the set, he landed awkwardly, dropped his racket and, in that instant, something in his challenge seemed to sag.

Cramp crept in. The back tightened. The shoulder followed. He described it bluntly afterward: “My whole body started to collapse.”

Navone sensed it. He surged through the fourth set, 6-2, as Djokovic’s footwork grew heavy and his timing frayed. The fifth became a procession. The Argentine ran away with it 6-1, as Djokovic – barely able to chase balls into the corners – managed just a single game.

Seventy unforced errors spilled off the Serbian’s racket by the end, an almost unthinkable tally for one of the game’s most precise competitors. The clock ticked towards midnight as he trudged to his chair for the last time, the stadium absorbing the shock.

Navone’s night, Djokovic’s question

Navone had idolised Djokovic growing up. Now he had just beaten him on the sport’s biggest stage.

“It was very tough for me because you are playing with the ‘GOAT’ on this court,” he said on court, still struggling to process what he had done. “For sure it's the best thing I've had on court. This is an amazing court and the biggest stage. It's amazing, the way we play. I mean, five sets. I'm very happy. I don't know. What can I say?”

He didn’t need to say much. The scoreline and the sight of Djokovic doubled over between points said enough.

Djokovic, for his part, did not hide how grim the experience had been.

“I didn't enjoy myself,” he admitted. “I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me.

“It's something that I've been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year. Vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there. Then my whole body started to collapse, basically cramping and pain.

“The back just gave up in the end and shoulder, and I couldn't close it out.

“I was a break up in the fourth, but just struggled all the way since the fourth game of the match.

“I don't want to take too much out of his win. Congrats to him. He's a nice guy, a fighter. But I didn't enjoy myself.”

The defeat will drop Djokovic out of the world’s top 10 for the first time in eight years, a symbolic slide for a player who has defined men’s tennis for more than a decade.

And so the question now hangs over Flushing Meadows and the sport itself: was this just a brutal night in New York, or the final chapter of Novak Djokovic at the Grand Slams?