Djokovic’s shocking ouster, less than 24 hours after Alcaraz loss, unearths mind-numbing ‘firsts’ in Slam history

In a space of just 24 hours, US Open 2024 witnessed two huge upsets. On late Thursday night in New York, in front of a packed Arthur Ashe crowd, 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz was stunned by world no. 74 Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets. An evening later, and on the same iconic court, Novak Djokovic, who lifted his fourth US Open title last year, lost to No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, in the third round.

Few had given either Botic or Popyrin a chance in the draw. Alcaraz, despite suffering a shocking opening-round exit to Gael Monfils on Cincinnati a fortnight back, headed into the tournament on the back of Slam hauls in Roland Garros and Wimbledon, followed by a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, and Djokovic clinched a historic gold medal at the Games earlier this month and remained in the quest for an unprecedented 25th major. Both were among the favourites for the title, with fanatics keeping their fingers crossed for a blockbuster finale face-off next week.

But Thursday was different, and so was Friday.

Popyrin, who has had the best summers in the States, having won his maiden Masters 1000 title in Montreal earlier this month, smashed 50 winners and capitalised on Djokovic’s poor serving to script the biggest win of his career. He had earlier pushed the Serb to four sets in the Australian Open and the Wimbledon, but found himself third-time lucky at the Slam.’

For Botic, his win over the four-time major winner was down to his aggressive brand of tennis that disrupted Alcaraz’s usual baseline rhythm and left him struggling for an effective ‘Plan B.’

Djokovic, Alcaraz unearth mind-numbing ‘firsts’ in Slam history

Djokovic, who summed his performance as “awful” and said it was “some of the worst tennis” he ever played, ended his Slam season with a single title for the first time since 2017. It was his earliest exit at a major since the 2017 Australian Open, when he was stunned by wildcard Denis Istomin in the second round, and earliest at the US Open since 2006, when he had incurred back-to-back third-round exits.

Djokovic’s loss also implied that this will be the first Grand Slam since the 2004 French Open without any of the Big Three (him, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer) in the Round of 16, and the first calendar year since 2002, without them winning at least one of the majors.

For Alcaraz, this was the third time in his career that he had incurred a second-round exit, his worst in a major since 2021 at Wimbledon, when he fell to second seed Daniil Medvedev.

With both Alcaraz and Djokovic’s ouster, the US Open becomes the first Slam in over 22 years without the No. 2 or 3 seed in the men’s draw in the round of 16.