A perfect, clearly struck serve down the T caught the line and was clocked at 122 mph (196 kmph). Mumbai: Novak Djokovic started the match with an ace. It was a point that, for most, would settle the pre-match nerves.
I have, but then I won a set and then (the) third one,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve been carrying, unfortunately, pretty much every match this year. Vomiting, throwing up, a serious issue there. Then my whole body starts to collapse, basically cramping and pain. The back just gave up in the end and the shoulder, and I couldn’t close it out. He also admitted to having thought of retiring from the match. “I have, I have. “Then I was, like, ‘Okay, maybe there is a chance’. Yeah, I didn’t want to give up in fourth or fifth, so I wanted to kind of finish the match.”
For all his grit and determination, and even a two-sets-to-one lead, Djokovic lost a lengthy five-set tie 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6 in a match that lasted four hours and 36 minutes.
“I think it was obvious that it was an awful feeling on the court for me,” Djokovic said in his post-match conference.
Navone started to run away with the match in the fifth set with Djokovic hoping more than dictating play. He did manage to win a solitary game in the fifth, leading to a remarkable moment in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Djokovic, then, brainwashed himself into thinking they were saying his nickname ‘Nole.
On the same court in the final in 2018, fans chanted ‘Ole, ole, ole’ to cheer for Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro. On Sunday there was no mistaking the calls of ‘Nole,’ leading the Serbian to tear up in the fourth game of the last set.
