Defending US Open champion Novak Djokovic (No. 2) is out in the third round after a four-set loss to Alexei Popyrin (No. 28), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. This is Djokovic’s earliest lost at a major tournament since the 2017 Australian Open where he lost in the second round. This is also the first year since 2017 (elbow injury), where Djokovic has not won a single grand slam.

Djokovic was not playing his best tennis, and Popyrin was able to take advantage to play a perfect game needed to beat an all-time great. Popyrin was able to break Djokovic’s serve five times, and the most important break came in the fourth set where he broke to take a 3-2 lead.

Djokovic has had a challenging year, coming off knee surgery in June, yet he still made the final at Wimbledon and won an Olympic gold medal a couple of weeks ago. I’m certain that he will be in better form to end the season, and he will have time to reset to pursue a record 25 grand slam titles next season. It’s insane that this will be the first year since 2002 that neither Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic will win a Grand Slam title. Times are changing.

Popyrin will look to keep the momentum going and will face American Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round on Sunday. Tiafoe (No. 20) beat Ben Shelton (No. 13) in a rematch of last year’s US Open quarterfinal in five sets (4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3) earlier today to reach the fourth round of the US Open.