The winner of a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles, Novak Djokovic fell in his first match in the United States since 2021, losing in doubles on Tuesday in the Western & Southern Open.
Djokovic and Nikola Cacic lost 6-4, 6-2 to Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Serbian star’s return to the country after missing events because of COVID-19 vaccine restrictions.
Djokovic elected to sign up for the doubles of the Cincinnati Masters presumably to have a light introduction to competitive tennis again.
The Serbian hasn’t played since the Wimbledon final, and it will take him a while to find his best form.
It was a pretty solid effort overall from the Serbian team, but they were facing a much better double pairing in Jamie Murray and Michael Venus, and it showed.
Djokovic predictably had some great moments, but overall, they couldn’t really match their opponents.
It wasn’t the first time Djokovic and Cacic played doubles together as they did it for Serbian in the Davis Cup however, this year’s team won’t feature Cacic. Novak Djokovic is there, hopeful of leading the team to the knockout stages of the final, Tennis-Infinity reports.
When it comes to this match specifically, it was a pretty competitive opening set. A few things made the difference. Murray and Venus served better and lost only 3 points behind their first serve. The second serve wasn’t that great, but the first one allowed them to save all three break points they saved.
Cacic and Djokovic didn’t serve, as well as their opponents, and allowed more points on their serve, failing to save the breakpoint as well. The second set was pretty much similar in that regard, as the British/Kiwi combination took a break midway through the set and then held it for the rest of the match.
Djokovic was playing his first competitive match since falling to top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
According to SPORTSTAR, Djokovic is set to open singles play on Wednesday night against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Alcaraz faced Australian qualifier Jordan Thompson in a late match. The defending U.S. Open champion was in a position to become the first ATP player to reach 50 wins this season.
In women’s play, former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens reached the third round for the first time since 2019 with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over sixth-seeded defending tournament champion Caroline Garcia.
Stephens, who won in New York in 2017, improved to 2-8 in her last 10 matches against top-10 players. Both of the wins have been against Garcia.
Fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur, in her first match since losing the Wimbledon final, overcame a 5-1 deficit in the third set to top Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (2).
