By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
Novak Djokovic has walked off plenty of courts a winner in his 20-plus years at the US Open. He'd never once walked off an opening-round loser — not until Sunday night in Flushing Meadows, when Argentina's Mariano Navone beat him 7-6 (5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in a five-set slugfest that ran four hours and 36 minutes.
Djokovic, 39, broke down in tears during the match, a moment BBC Sport described as further evidence that "age is fast catching up with the great." It's a blunt line, and it's an outlet's characterization rather than the player's own words — but the scoreline speaks plainly enough. Djokovic won the first two sets in tight, grinding fashion, then watched the match slip away over the final three as Navone, ranked well outside the game's elite, kept finding shots when it mattered.
It marks the first time in Djokovic's US Open career that he has lost in the first round, a streak that had held since his tournament debut. For a player who has built a career on outlasting younger legs in New York's late-summer heat, the reversal is jarring — and it lands at a moment when questions about his physical decline, gently raised for a couple of seasons now, get harder to wave off.
What it means for the rest of the tournament is straightforward: no Djokovic run to chase this fortnight, and one fewer familiar name atop the draw. What it means for the man himself is less clear, and nobody but Djokovic gets to say. He didn't offer a full explanation in the reporting available here, and we won't guess at one.
— Compiled from reporting by ESPN and BBC Sport.
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