NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic grinded through physical and internal ailments, made one mistake after another and could not find what it took to beat a feisty, younger opponent who was not intimidated under the lights against tennis’ most decorated player.
The 39-year-old is out of the U.S. Open after a first-round defeat to Mariano Navone on Sunday night, losing 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a five-set marathon that lasted 4 hours and 36 minutes. It was the longest opening match of a Grand Slam in Djokovic’s career and became his earliest exit in one in two decades, dating to the 2006 Australian Open. He had never lost in the first round at the U.S. Open.
With this defeat, 21 years to the day of his U.S. Open debut, the question now lingers as to whether this was Djokovic’s final match at this or any Grand Slam.
Djokovic made 70 unforced errors in a painful performance that ended mere minutes before midnight.
The record holder with 24 major titles threw up at least once and later appeared to be cramping when he grabbed at his left foot. Djokovic swallowed pills brought to him by a doctor and had his lower back massaged during a medical timeout between the fourth and fifth sets, and he grimaced after several shots.
Throughout his time on court, it was clear Djokovic was not himself, and the wear and tear of sickness and soreness took its toll. The No. 4 seed from Serbia cruised to early 3-0 and 4-1 leads before blowing them and losing the first set — the first time that happened to him in the first round of the U.S. Open since ’06.
With his wife, Jelena, watching from the stands with worried looks on her face, Djokovic had moments where he looked like one of the best to play the sport. His fist pump was reserved after winning the second set, and he put his hand to his ear and gestured to the crowd for applause on the way to taking the third.
But Navone — a 25-year-old from Argentina who earlier this year won his first ATP singles title — did not go away. After firing a shot wide in the fourth set, Djokovic landed awkwardly and dropped his racket.
Djokovic all but conceded the fourth set. But he was unable to muster enough for what would have been his 43rd five-set victory as Navone picked up his first.
Carlos Alcaraz will start his US Open title defence against Russia’s Roman Safiullin in the first serious examination of his fitness following a long-term wrist injury.
Second seed Alcaraz, who won the men’s title in New York last year, has not played a competitive singles match for more than four months because of inflammation in his playing right wrist.
Despite his lack of action, the 23-year-old Spaniard is still considered by many as the favourite to triumph again – particularly because his great rival Jannik Sinner is not playing due to a knee injury.
The pair may have been a cut above the rest of the tour for the past two seasons, but Alcaraz coming back from a prolonged absence with such a delicate injury and beating the rest of the field – even though he is a generational talent – would be remarkable.
The seven-time major champion missed this season’s French Open and Wimbledon as a result of the issue, which did not require surgery, before making his return to court in the US Open mixed doubles alongside Serena Williams earlier this week.
Wearing a long compression sleeve on his right arm, Alcaraz did not look totally convincing in the exhibition-like event. Understandably, he appeared to be holding back on his serve and return as he eased himself back into matchplay.
There is no doubt that a Grand Slam singles bout played over five sets will be another step up physically. Safiullin, with a hefty serve and attacking groundstrokes, is not an ideal opponent to start against.
The 29-year-old Russian, who reached the Wimbledon fourth round last month before falling to Novak Djokovic, is likely to take time away from Alcaraz, test the Spaniard’s durability at the baseline and generally make him feel uncomfortable.
Predicting how Slam draws will pan out is always a fool’s errand, but if Alcaraz does get past Safiullin and goes as far as the fourth round, there are more potential opponents who appear daunting given the length of his absence.
If you analyse Alcaraz’s projected draw by the seedings, he could face rock solid American Tommy Paul or unpredictable Kazak Alexander Bublik in the last 16.
Athletic Frenchman Arthur Fils and huge-serving Ben Shelton are potential quarter-final opponents. Djokovic could lie in wait in the semi-finals.
Nobody outside of Alcaraz and his core team knows how his wrist is likely to stand up to the rigours of playing five-set matches in the heat of a Grand Slam tournament.
A challenging start at Flushing Meadows and a potentially intimidating second week will tell us.
Novak Djokovic suffered from punishing heat and humidity on Saturday but made a match of it before falling 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Thiago Tirante in what could be the Serb’s last appearance at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
The second-round battle lasted for more than two and a half hours, and it proved too much for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who was playing his first match since he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals more than a month ago.
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Top-seeded Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who fell to Sinner in the Wimbledon final, was more fortunate, squeezing out an opening 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cameron Norrie in a match that took two hours and 45 minutes and ended at 2:15am.
Britain’s Norrie has now lost all eight of his matches against the German, winner of the Cincinnati title five years ago, who is hoping a return to Ohio will help him shake off an abrupt exit in Canada last week.
Norrie had wrapped up the opening set before Zverev began to find his footing to level the match.
Norrie saved six break points in a 12-minute game to begin the deciding set but was broken twice as Zverev advanced.
“I needed to get a match rhythm,” Zverev said. “The confidence was not there after Canada.
“The first set was not great, but the other two were at a high level, and I’m happy about that.”
Djokovic reacts during his second round match against Thiago Agustin Tirante at the Cincinnati Open [Emilee Chinn/Getty via AFP]
Depleted Djokovic
Djokovic, who claimed the last of his three Cincinnati titles in 2023, took the opening set against Argentina’s Tirante with little fuss.
But the sweltering afternoon temperatures took a toll.
“It was a combination of the heat and humidity, all those things,” he said. “Everything involved makes it worse.”
Djokovic won a brutal 18-minute third game of the second, saving four break points over nine deuces. But he was bent over in distress between several points and even dropped to his hands and knees after one particularly gruelling exchange.
Djokovic took a medical timeout after that game, with the physio and then a doctor coming on court to assist with assessments and ice towels.
After Tirante took the second set, both players cooled off in the locker room.
Slightly revived, Djokovic set the pace again in the deciding set. But it all went wrong in the ninth game, when Djokovic saved three break points before getting it wrong on a drop shot to bring up a fourth break chance that his opponent converted.
Tirante clinched the biggest win of his career in the next game as Djokovic again failed to land a drop shot on match point.
The Serb, who must now try to regroup before the US Open starts on August 30, admitted he might have played his last match in Cincy.
“It looks like I won’t be back, unfortunately, to play here,” he said.
Tirante called the win the best of his career.
“I managed the nerves of playing a legend like Novak. It was all so much pressure.”
Djokovic congratulates Tirante, right, after the match [Emilee Chinn/Getty via AFP]
‘Focused’ Eala advances
In the WTA draw, Philippines sensation Alexandra Eala advanced to the third round 6-1, 3-0 as injured Elena-Gabriela Ruse retired from their match during a weather delay.
The Romanian had received treatment on her right ankle just before play was halted by a thunderstorm, Ruse pulling the plug during the delay.
Eala, the emerging WTA star who captured her first WTA title in Washington, DC, this month, will next play ninth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, who beat Turk Zeynep Sonmez 6-2, 6-3.
“I was playing well and feeling really focused,” Eala said. “I tried to stay in the zone.”
“A retirement is not the way you want to end a match,” she added. “Injuries are not fun.”
Roland Garros finalist Maja Chwalinska advanced 6-2, 6-2 over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.
Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova followed suit with her 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Britain’s Katie Boulter.
There was heartbreak for Payton Stearns, who grew up just blocks from the tennis centre. She lost 7-6 (9/7), 1-6, 7-5 to Dane Clara Tauson, who played through back pain but rallied from 4-1 down in the final set to win.
Alexandra Eala of the Philippines returns a shot to Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania during day 5 of the Cincinnati Open [Matthew Stockman/Getty via AFP]
Novak Djokovic struggled with the heat and humidity as he fell to a shock defeat by Argentina’s Thiago Tirante in the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion dropped onto his hands and knees and took a medical timeout during the second set before eventually losing 2-6 6-4 6-4 to the South American, who is ranked 50th in the world.
Djokovic, 39, the world number five, was making his first appearance since losing to Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July.
The Serbian had never failed to reach at least the last 32 of the tournament in Ohio since making his debut in it in 2005.
However, despite claiming the first set, Djokovic toiled badly after winning an 18-minute third game in the second set and appeared to vomit twice.
A physio and a doctor both provided on-court assistance and both players returned to the dressing rooms after the second set.
However, when play resumed Djokovic dropped serve in the ninth game of the third set and Tirante was able see out the match.
“This is the best win of my career,” said the Argentine.
“I managed the nerves of playing a legend like Novak. It was all so much pressure.”
The tournament director of the Canadian Open says changes need to be made to the “demanding schedule” of players after Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic pulled out of the Masters 1000 event.
Sinner, who beat Alexander Zverev to win the Wimbledon title this month, said he had withdrawn from the ATP tournament, which takes place from 2-13 August in Montreal, to prioritise his health.
Carlos Alcaraz will also be absent from the Canadian Open as he continues his recovery from a wrist injury that has kept him out since April.
“We are obviously very disappointed that Jannik and Novak won’t be joining us in Montreal this year, especially after they also withdrew from last year’s tournament in Toronto,” said the Canadian Open’s tournament director Valerie Tetreault.
“We respect their decisions and understand that, with such a demanding schedule, players’ health must remain the priority.
“That said, we believe the frequency of these last-minute withdrawals in the last few years raises a broader issue for our sport.
“Masters 1000 events are among the flagship tournaments on the tour, and fans rightfully expect to see the world’s best compete.
“We are already in discussions with the ATP to ensure this matter received serious consideration.”
The Canadian Open takes place before the Cincinnati Open, which is also a Masters 1000 event, and prior to the start of the US Open – the final Grand Slam of the year – on 30 August.
Seven of the existing nine Masters 1000 events – the sport’s highest level below the Grand Slams – are now staged over 12 days and concerns over the congested tennis calendar, which stretches across 11 months of the year for the top players, have regularly been voiced.
Britain’s Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu recently pulled out of Wimbledon on the eve of their home Grand Slam because of injury.
In September 2024, Alcaraz said: “They are going to kill us in some way.”
“We firmly believe adjustments are needed in the near future to better protect the integrity of our Masters 1000 events while remaining mindful of the realities players face,” added Tetreault.
Earlier this year, women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek pulled out of the Dubai Championships, a WTA 1000 event, two days before it started.
Tournament director Salah Tahlak said players who made late withdrawals from tournaments should be docked points, while Sabalenka said criticism of her was “ridiculous” and that she may not play at the tournament again.
Novak Djokovic’s pursuit for a record 25th Grand Slam title is put to an end by defending champion Jannik Sinner, whose straight-set win sets up a meeting with Alexander Zverev in the final of Wimbledon 2026.
LONDON — A local boy sleeps in his own bed, plays in front of a king and queen and makes a Cinderella run to the Wimbledon semifinals. Sounds like a Hollywood script that might never see the silver screen.
But it’s no fairy tale — it’s Arthur Fery’s out-of-nowhere performance over the last 10 days.
Fery, a virtually unknown British wild card with a triple-digit ranking, has become the emotional heartbeat of Wimbledon while legitimately diverting some national attention from England’s World Cup quest.
The royal treatment at his matches across the All England Club has come in more ways than one.
Fery, who grew up five minutes from Wimbledon and is staying at home during the tournament, first played before grass-court king Roger Federer, Wimbledon’s eight-time singles champion, during Monday’s fourth-round victory. Two days later, he beat No. 9 seed and French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the quarterfinals 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in front of Queen Camilla.
Ranked 114th, Fery had never reached the semifinals of an ATP Tour event, let alone a major, before his brief chat with the queen following the match.
“She just said, ‘Congratulations, keep going,’” 23-year-old Fery told reporters later. “I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”
That’s still a match away. To get there, Fery will have to get past one of the hottest players on tour: No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, who is fresh off his first Grand Slam title at the French Open. Looming on the other side of the draw is a highly anticipated showdown between defending champion Jannik Sinner against 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic.
If Fery can continue his magical run to the end, he would become the first British wild card to win a Wimbledon title.
Arthur Fery reacts after defeating Flavio Cobolli in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.
(Maja Smiejkowska / Associated Press)
Born in France, Fery’s family moved to Wimbledon when he was an infant. His mother played professional tennis. He was a top British junior but chose to sharpen his game for three years in the U.S. collegiate system at Stanford, as many of his compatriots have done.
“I came out with a lot of hunger coming out of that, and I was ready to attack the pro circuit,” Fery said.
After struggling with bone bruising in his arm that limited him to playing mostly on the lower-tier Challenger circuit in recent years, Fery is finally healthy and playing consistently.
His path to the last four in London has been a masterclass in clutch come-from-behind performances. The Brit has stared down near-certain elimination in multiple matches, repeatedly breaking his opponents’ momentum with Houdini-like on-court acts.
At 5-foot-9, Fery possesses a skill set perfectly suited for low-bounding grass.
His compact strokes, low center of gravity, and elite movement allow him to hug the baseline, take time away from opponents, and confidently execute delicate volleys at the net, according to ESPN analyst Chris Eubanks.
“He defends well,” said Eubanks, a 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist. “He can scrap. He can claw. He can dig his way back into points. And when he ventures forward, he’s very, very comfortable at the net. This is a picture-perfect example of someone whose game is built for the surface.”
Still, it’s hard to fathom the multitude of milestones for Fery, who briefly reached the No. 1 ranking in college and earned 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year honors before leaving early to pursue a pro career.
He arrived at Wimbledon with just one main-draw victory at a major, a losing record as a professional, and only one previous ATP quarterfinal, at Queen’s Club last month. He’s now 11-8, won his first two five-set matches, and is the first British wild card to reach the Wimbledon men’s semifinals in the Open Era. The only other men’s wild-card semifinalist was Goran Ivanisevic, who won the title as a wild card in 2001.
Fery, who started the season ranked No. 185 and will climb to at least No. 36 after the tournament, said there were a “lot of first times” as he reflected on his unprecedented run. “First five-setter, longest match that I’ve ever played, first time breaking into the top 100, first second week in a slam, all at home, five minutes from where I grew up. It’s a great story for me,” he said.
The gap with his fellow semifinalists is understandably massive.
Entering Wimbledon, Djokovic, Sinner and Zverev’s combined records include 29 Grand Slam titles, 2,088 match wins and 155 tour-level titles. Fery was 6-8 in tour-level matches with zero titles.
But he has singlehandedly lifted the tournament for locals. With top hopes Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu withdrawing before the tournament and the rest of Britain’s singles prospects falling one by one — 18 men and women were eliminated by the third round — Fery became the nation’s last knight standing.
If his first name inevitably evokes Arthurian legend, Fery’s march through the draw gave Britain reason to believe again. No sword, no Round Table, just world-class shot-making, a lion’s heart and a Centre Court crowd thrilled to rally behind him.
“This is really quite something to see on home soil,” said Russell Fuller, the BBC’s tennis correspondent, who compared it with Raducanu’s stunning U.S. Open win in 2021 as a qualifier.
Fery earned every bit of it.
In the first round against Damir Dzumhur, Fery dropped the opening set and trailed by a break in the second before surging back. Against Zizou Bergs in the third round, he faced a 4-1 deficit with a double break in the fourth set, and again fell behind 4-1 in the fifth, before somehow surviving.
Then, stepping onto Centre Court for the first time against former top-10 stalwart Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the fourth round, Fery clawed out of a 2-sets-to-1 hole and a break down in the fourth set to clinch the victory in a fifth-set tiebreak.
“He carries himself with humility, but he’s a fierce competitor, and he’s got a ton of belief in himself,” said Stanford men’s coach and former top-60 player Paul Goldstein, who flew to England Tuesday to see his former charge compete against Cobolli.
While Fery attempts to outmaneuver Zverev on Friday, the other semifinal features a 2025 Wimbledon semifinal rematch between seven-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic and top-ranked Sinner, who defeated the Serb in straight sets on his way to the title. It’s also their second Grand Slam semifinal meeting in 2026. At January’s Australian Open on hard courts, Djokovic bested 24-year-old Sinner in five sets before falling to now-injured Carlos Alcaraz in the Melbourne final.
Arthur Fery hits a return during his Wimbledon quarterfinal win over Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday.
(Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
Djokovic, 39, enters the match after surviving a grueling five-set, 5-hour-plus quarterfinal slugfest against No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime that concluded just minutes before Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew. But the seventh-seeded Serb has a way of defying Father Time and he has had two days to recover on a surface where points are shorter and generally less taxing on the body.
Italy’s Sinner, who defeated Alcaraz in last year’s Wimbledon final, has been efficient if not at the level that saw him capture five consecutive titles before crashing out in the second round at the French Open. After a first-round scare here, the four-time Grand Slam champion has dominated opponents behind his improving serve, winning 80% of his first-serve points. He hasn’t dropped a set since the opening round. Sinner leads the head-to-head with Djokovic 6-5.
According to Eubanks, Djokovic must disrupt Sinner’s movement to break his rhythm, and take his chances.
“He’s got to play similar to how he played in Australia, where it was just all-out aggression,” Eubanks said.
For Sinner, he added: “His serve can be a neutralizing force for what Novak is going to try to do.”
On the other side of the ledger, Fery’s poise under pressure and deft use of the home crowd will be paramount to continue his surprise run against Germany’s Zverev, whom he called a “step up again” from his last five matches. Zverev, 29, is seeking his fifth major final and first at Wimbledon.
“I’m ready for it,” Fery said. “I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to go out there and … put my game on the court, do what I’ve done, believe in myself. We’ll see where that takes me.”
Home has never been closer to Centre Court. Nor has Arthur Fery ever been closer to tennis history.
Novak Djokovic beats Arthur Rinderknech in four sets to go level with Roger Federer for most men’s singles wins at SW19, as the seventh seed progresses into the fourth round.
The Williams sisters, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are back at Wimbledon. What year is it again?
The mention of those names may make it feel like we’re stuck in a timewarp – but, no, it is 2026 and some of the sport’s greatest are returning to SW19, in one way or another.
American icon Serena Williams, 44, is making a blockbuster singles comeback after four years away from the sport and also resumes her iconic doubles pairing with sister Venus, 46.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is only a week younger than 39-year-old Murray yet is still chasing that elusive record 25th Grand Slam title.
“It’s very special to be here – we have quite a history here. It’s nice to be back in 2026,” said Venus Williams, who has won five singles and six doubles titles at the All England Club.
As one of the highlights of the British sporting summer, Wimbledon never goes under the radar, but the presence of the old guard will help elevate the grass-court Grand Slam in a summer stacked with sporting events.
Eyeballs are inevitably trained on the men’s football World Cup, particularly with England still in the competition, while the women’s T20 cricket World Cup and British Grand Prix are also jostling for the limelight.
The appearance of the legends – along with younger superstars like Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, plus the high-profile return of Briton Jack Draper – will ensure Wimbledon will remain at the centre of attention.
“We’re always unbelievably excited to be part of an exciting summer of sport,” Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told BBC World Service.
“Every summer there are always other big events on and I think that does add to the buzz around sport in general. We do love being part of that.”
