Defending Champion Djokovic Stunned in U.S. Open Upset by Popyrin

Djokovic’s Shocking Early Exit

Novak Djokovic’s pur­suit of his 25th major title came to a sur­pris­ing end at the 2024 U.S. Open, as the reign­ing cham­pi­on was upset in the third round by Aus­tralian Alex­ei Popyrin.

It marked the first time in three matchups that the 28th-seed­ed Popy­rin was able to defeat the world No. 2 Djokovic on a hard court.

Popyrin’s Dominant Performance

Popy­rin played with excep­tion­al focus and inten­si­ty, gen­er­at­ing a mul­ti­tude of blis­ter­ing fore­hand win­ners and grind­ing out lengthy ral­lies to max­i­mize Djokovic’s mistakes.

The 25-year-old Aus­tralian deliv­ered a 130–127 points advan­tage over the Ser­bian leg­end, reach­ing the U.S. Open fourth round for the first time.

Djokovic’s Candid Assessment

Djokovic acknowl­edged that Popy­rin “def­i­nite­ly played bet­ter and deserved to win” on the night, adding that his own per­for­mance was “one of the worst” he has ever played, par­tic­u­lar­ly in terms of his serv­ing and inabil­i­ty to win free points.

Struggles Leading Up to the Upset

Pri­or to this third-round match, Djokovic had already admit­ted he was not play­ing at his best dur­ing the ear­ly rounds of the U.S. Open, even sug­gest­ing he may not have advanced this far with­out a walkover win in the pre­vi­ous round due to his oppo­nen­t’s injury.

Crowd Support for the Underdog

The ener­gized crowd at Arthur Ashe Sta­di­um heav­i­ly favored the under­dog Popy­rin as he inched clos­er to the upset vic­to­ry. The Aus­tralian fed off the spec­ta­tors’ enthu­si­asm, grow­ing more fired up as he closed out the match.