Novak Djokovic was left stunned as his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title came to an end at the US Open, as he stuttered in the third round, losing to Alexei Popyrin on Friday. Djokovic, who recently won gold at the Paris Olympics this month was in poor form and crashed to a 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4 defeat.

Speaking after his defeat, Djokovic said, "I spent a lot of energy winning gold and I arrived at New York just not feeling fresh, mentally and physically."

"But because it's the U.S. Open I gave it a shot and 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," he added.

Alexei Popyrin - Player profile

Popyrin is an Australian tennis player, born on August 5 1999. He achieved a career-high ranking of no. 23 on August 12, 2024.

He was born in Sydney to Russian immigrant parents. He began playing tennis at the Kim Warwick Tennis Academy in Hornsby at the age of four. When he was eight years old, he moved to Dubai for two years, and then to Spain, where Alex de Minaur was his neighbour.

He began his junior career in 2011, and reached the junior doubles' semi-finals at the 2017 Australian Open. He also won the 2017 French Open junior singles title.

This is also the farthest Popyrin has reached at the US Open. Meanwhile, in the Australian Open, he has reached the third round thrice, second round in 2019 at the French Open and third round at 2024 Wimbledon.

He achieved his first Grand Slam win at the 2017 Australian Open, where he entered as a wildcard and defeated Mischa Zverev in straight sets.

In 2024, he lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open second round. He also made his Olympics debut at Paris 2024. He reached the third round, and then lost to Alexander Zverev. He won his first Masters title at the Canadian Open in Montreal.

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