Novak Djokovic suffered a painful blow at the US Open , losing in the first round of the Grand Slam for the first time in New York and suffering his earliest exit at a major in 20 years. 1 Mats Wilander has backed the Serbian to continue fighting, saying he still feels capable of challenging the best. The seismic defeat raised questions over whether the end for Djokovic was nearer than he may have realised. But former world No.
He struggled physically, was seen vomiting on multiple occasions on court and, by the end of it all, was left sobbing as the inevitable result neared. The Arthur Ashe crowd on Sunday witnessed Djokovic at his lowest during the opening-round match.
Djokovic went down in five sets against Mariano Navone, suffering his first opening-round loss at a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open, when he was an unseeded player. Prior to Sunday, he was 19-0 in opening-round matches at the US Open. Because he did throw up on the court, “I’m not exactly sure what happened to him, how bad he was feeling before,. Because of the length of the match or was it something that he had fought with before, was it.
“He has been physically struggling – he hasn’t named what it is but he does struggle in humidity. I don’t think he’s going away. “We could see the emotions were at the highest level at the end of the match and it shows how hard it is for him to deal with the situation. Djokovic himself spoke about his condition after the match, admitting that the issue had troubled him throughout the year. “It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year. You know, vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there.
“It was very sad,” said Wilander. He has alluded that something is going on but he also has said that he’s going to try to find a solution to it. He is going to give it his best crack to find a way to keep playing on his own terms and retire on his own terms,” she said. “There are so many questions about his capacity to keep working hard,” Henin said.
