Djokovic knocked out of US Open in first round for the first time in his career
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic suffered a shock five-set loss to Argentina's Mariano Navone in the opening round of the US Open, the first time he has ever failed to reach the second round at the tournament.
The US Open delivered a stunning upset on its opening day, as record-holding champion Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the first round.
The 39-year-old Serbian, currently ranked fifth on the ATP tour and seeded fourth at the tournament, lost a five-set battle to Argentina's Mariano Navone, ranked 49th in the world. The match ended 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, with Djokovic unable to offer serious resistance in the final two sets.
A historic defeat
This marks the first time Djokovic has failed to get past the first round at the US Open, having previously won all 19 of his opening-round matches there. Looking more broadly across Grand Slam tournaments, the last time the Serbian star failed to advance past the first round was back in 2006 at the Australian Open.
Navone will face either Italy's Matteo Berrettini or Switzerland's veteran Stan Wawrinka, who entered the tournament on a wild card, in the second round.
Other seeded players' results
Among the seeded men who advanced past the first round on Sunday were Russia's Daniil Medvedev, Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik, the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka, American Tommy Paul, France's Arthur Rinderknech and Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Britain's Cameron Norrie, seeded 29th, suffered a defeat.
In the women's singles, first-round winners included Jessica Pegula, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and her compatriot Marta Kostyuk, Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova and Italy's Jasmine Paolini.
Last year's champions were Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the men's draw and Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka in the women's. This year's tournament runs until September 13.
