Jimmy Connors agrees that Novak Djokovic probably relaxed a little bit more than he usually does following his Paris Olympics win but he doesn’t agree at all with the notion that the Serb came to the US Open without expecting to win the title.
After accomplishing the biggest goal for this part of his career and completing his resume, the 37-year-old skipped the Masters events in Montreal and Cincinnati. However, some weren’t particularly concerned about that since the record 24-time Grand Slam has a history of doing extremely well even with limited preparation.
But at Flushing Meadows, Djokovic was evidently far from his best and it all resulted in him suffering a shock four-set loss to Alexei Popyrin in the first round. For the current world No. 2, it was his earliest US Open since 2006 – when he also exited in round three.
Afterward, the Serbian tennis superstar admitted that he didn’t arrive feeling well mentally or physically and that led to some questioning if he just came to the last Major of the year for the sake of competing.
“When he got that medal and maybe relaxed a little, celebrated, had some fun, went to Serbia, hung out with his family and friends. He didn’t play any warm-up events. So do you think like his expectations coming in might not have been that high? He’s still probably reveling in the Olympic gold medal,” Brett Connors asked his father on the latest episode of the Advantage Connors podcast.
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