Novak Djokovic avait eu du mal à s'en débarrasser à Melbourne, puis à Londres. Nole retrouvait vendredi soir Alexei Popyrin à New York, au troisième tour de l'US Open. L'Australien avait montré de la confiance en conférence de presse, affirmant qu'il pouvait faire jeu égal avec le numéro 2 mondial. Il a confirmé ses dires sur le court en faisant chuter le favori du tournoi 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Malgré des problèmes d'estomac survenus contre son compatriote Laslo Djere, Djokovic semblait en forme. Pourtant, gêné par le punch de Popyrin, Djoko n'a pas pu dicter sa loi et n'a pu que subir les coups de fusil de son adversaire. Djokovic quitte un Grand Chelem avant les huitièmes pour la première fois depuis l'Open d'Australie 2017 et finira l'année sans aucun titre du Grand Chelem, une première depuis 2017 également.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00Congratulations to him and his team. He definitely played better and deserved to win today. On
00:12my end, honestly the way I felt and the way I played from the beginning of this tournament,
00:18third round is a success. I've played some of the worst tennis I've ever played, honestly
00:23serving by far the worst ever. So yeah, if you play on a quick surface like this without
00:32the serve, without ability to win three points there, very low first serve percentage, many
00:38double falls, then you can't win. You can't win, especially against the guys who are in
00:44form like Alexey, who is serving big, puts a lot of pressure on your service game. So
00:50yeah, it was just an awful match for me.
00:55You mentioned a success just getting to the third round, given where your level is. If we go back
01:02a few weeks, given where your level was on that Sunday afternoon, which was maybe one of the best
01:08matches you've ever played, can you talk us through from there to here and was it just too much?
01:17I don't know, maybe. It's a different surface. Obviously it had an effect. I spent a lot of
01:25energy winning the gold and I did arrive to New York just not feeling fresh mentally and physically.
01:35But because it's US Open I gave it a shot and I tried my best. I didn't have any physical issues,
01:42I just felt out of gas. You could see that with the way I played from the very beginning,
01:49from the first match. I just didn't find myself at all on this court and that's all I can say.
01:57Life moves on. I mean, yeah, it's just trying to recalibrate and look for what's next.
02:08Howard?
02:10Did you try to change anything up? Was there anything you were able to attempt to do to slow
02:18him down? I mean, I tried so many things and sometimes that's an issue. You move away from
02:25the basics that work and then you just lose the basics. You lose the foundation, you lose the
02:31movement, the timing, the rhythm, the tempo, everything. Whether it's a serve or any other
02:35shot. It was just really a big struggle mentally for me to play these three matches here
02:43because I wasn't playing even close to my best. It's not good to be in that kind of state where
02:51you feel okay physically and of course you're motivated because it's a Grand Slam but
02:56you're just not able to find your game and that's it. Your game is falling apart and
03:01I guess you have to accept that tournaments like this happen.
03:07Yeah, you could argue that it's because of the Olympics but I don't know. I don't want to
03:13analyse that right now. I was just looking to really improve my game here on a daily basis but
03:19it just didn't happen. Can I ask you one other question? Wait, wait, wait. We're transitioning
03:25to serve. Is Alexey Poporin a real deal here? Can he contend for the title or maybe not quite
03:36there yet? I don't know what to make of that question. He's just beaten me, the defending
03:45champion here, so he deserves credit for that and respect. If he serves well, plays well,
03:53he can beat anybody. I mean, look, Alcaraz is out, I'm out, some big upsets. The draw is opening
04:02up. Obviously, Sinner is the main favourite but then Tiafoe is there as well as an American
04:10favourite. Fritz, Zverev, you have great guys playing well. Rublev, Dimitrov in this part of
04:16the draw. Anybody can take it. It's going to be interesting to see who takes the title again.
04:24Novak, you said that tournaments like this happen but they don't happen to you. What
04:29sense of appreciation do you have as you think about all the tournaments that you've gone way
04:35past this over all these years? Yeah, I mean, obviously fresh off the court you have a bitter
04:42taste in your mouth and you don't like losing even though I've had so many more wins than losses
04:51in this tournament and really any other. So I have to draw the line and see things from a larger
04:58perspective. Of course, I have to be content but it's hard to see the big perspective right now.
05:06You're just angry and upset that you lost in the way you played and that's it.
05:11But tomorrow is a new day and I'll obviously think about what to do next.