Defending champion Novak Djokovic admitted that he was lucky to have reached the third round at the 2024 US Open after suffering his worst-ever result at the Grand Slam tournament since 2006. The Serb, who clinched a historic gold at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, lost to Australia's Alexei Popyrin 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.

The 37-year-old, who beat Radu Albot in straight sets in his opener, and went 4-6 4-6 0-2 up against Laslo Djere before his second-round opponent withdrew on Wednesday, admitted that he played “some of the worst tennis" of his career in suffering an "awful" loss against Popyrin.

"Congratulations to him and his team," Djokovic said. "He definitely played better and deserved to win today. "I mean, on my end, honestly, the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament, third round is a success. I mean, I have played some of the worst tennis I have ever played, honestly, serving by far the worst ever.

Djokovic hit 32 double faults across the three matches he played at the US Open this year, 14 of which came in the third-round clash against the Aussie, which resulted in him dropping serve five times, two of which came in the final set to see Popyrin go 5-2 up.

“If you play on a quick surface like this without the serve, without [the] ability to win free points there, very low first-serve percentage, many double faults, then you can't win,” Djokovic said. “You can't win, especially against the guys who are in form like Alexei who is serving big, puts a lot of pressure on your service game. Yeah, it was just an awful match for me.”

Over a fortnight back, Djokovic scripted one of his best-ever performances at a tournament to win the one title that eluded him in his glittering career. And en route to the gold at the Paris Olympics, where he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final, he did not drop a single set. However, he opted for some rest after the big win and skipped the preparator events in the build-up to the Open, and hence found it difficult to adjust to the quick surfaces in New York.

“It's a different surface. Obviously it had an effect. I spent a lot of energy winning the gold, and I did arrive to New York just not feeling fresh mentally and physically,” Djokovic said. “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 [will] just try and recalibrate and look for what's next.”

With the loss, Djokovic, for the first time since 2017, ended the calendar year without a Slam, continuing his wait for an unprecedented 25th major. His best result came at Wimbledon, where he reached the final before losing to Alcaraz.

“It's not good to be in that kind of state where you feel okay physically, and of course you're motivated because it's a Grand Slam, but you just are not able to find your game. That's it,” Djokovic said. “The game is falling apart, and I guess you have to accept that tournaments like this happen.

“You could argue that it's because of the Olympics, but I don't know. I don't want to analyse that right now. I was just looking to really improve my game here on a daily basis, but it just didn't happen.”

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