Novak Djokovic has honest admission about upset loss at U.S. Open

After the match, Djokovic commended his opponent for “playing better” and truly “deserving to win.”

But the 24-time Grand Slam winner followed that up by stating that he was surprised to have even made it to the third round at all. He called the round 3 result a “success” despite being outplayed by Popyrin.

Djokovic labeled his own play in the tournament “some of the worst tennis I’ve ever played.”

“Serving by far some of the worst ever,” Djokovic said. “On a quick surface like this, you can’t win without a serve. You can’t win against the guys who are in form like Alexei. It was just an awful match from me.”

The 37-year-old was a massive favorite to beat Popyrin, who entered the tournament ranked 28th ranked in the world. But Djokovic was responsible for several self-inflicted wounds, committing a career-worst 14 double-faults in the contest.

Nole’s upset was far from the biggest in the tournament. World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out by a man ranked over 70 spots below him.