Novak Djokovic surprise loss at US Open creates great chance for Frances Tiafoe

Novak Djokovic must be tired of seeing Alexei Popyrin. While the Serb had not lost to the Australian until Friday when Djokovic was dropped in four sets by Popyrin, in each of their two previous meetings in 2024, Djokovic had issues dispatching the Aussie. The loss by the Serb was his earliest at the tournament since 2006.

This was the second straight day at the US Open that tennis fans saw shocking defeats on the men's side. Carlos Alcaraz lost in straight sets on Thursday. Alcaraz and Djokovic were the two favorites heading into the tournament and neither made it into the second week.

Alcaraz at least will stay ahead of Djokovic in the new ATP rankings when they come out after the tournament is done. Both could be passed by Daniil Medvedev if the Russian wins the US Open, an event he won in 2021. Jannik Sinner is guaranteed to stay No. 1 though he could widen his lead by a considerable margin should he win in New York. Alexander Zverev will also be ranked higher than Alcaraz and Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic losing could be great news for Frances Tiafoe

Perhaps the biggest winner of the Serb losing is Frances Tiafoe. He defeated fellow American Ben Shelton on Friday in five highly entertaining sets, and Tiafoe will now face Popyrin. The two players have never faced one another, but Tiafoe has never been successful against Djokovic so not playing the Serb has to give Tiafoe confidence moving forward.

Should Tiafoe push past Popyrin, he would face Grigor Dimitrov or Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. Dimitrov has only made it past the fourth round at the US Open once and that was in 2019. Rublev has never made it past the quarterfinals in any Grand Slam event.

In other words, historically speaking, Tiafoe has a very good chance of at least making it to the semifinals. That would match his run in 2022.

The question about Djokovic now becomes what he might want to do next. His ranking is falling and he did not win a major in 2024. That marks the first year since 2017 that he did not add to his Grand Slam title total. One might wonder how much longer he might want to keep playing.

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