Novak Djokovic was in the middle of a brutal match against Laslo Djere, but the match suddenly ended when his compatriot had to retire from an abdominal problem.
Djokovic began his US Open campaign with a straight-sets victory against Radu Albot. Although he was not at his blistering best in the match, it was still a comfortable triumph for him.
The Serbian wore a knee brace in that match with Albot. After that win, he gave an update about his knee, hoping that if he plays well, he will be ready for a deep in New York.
He also faced Djere at the US Open last year. Djokovic was two sets down and struggling badly before recovering to win. That undoubtedly made him wary heading into his second-round battle with him this year.
Djokovic had major serve issues in the first two sets. That was noticeable from the start of the contest and meant the 37-year-old had to play several long rallies in intense humidity under the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Djere undoubtedly rued missed chances in the opening set, unable to take four break points. In his defense, Djokovic, who was otherwise having a bad day on serve, came up with strong first serves on all those occasions.
The defending champion somehow managed to hold onto his serve throughout the first set to go 5-4 up. Djere then played his first bad game of the match to get broken to love and hand the former world No. 1 the set.
In the opening games of the second set, Djokovic began to struggle visibly with the humid conditions. He tried to shorten the points whenever possible and regularly hunched over, breathing heavily after each point.
Djere finally broke Djokovic and found himself 4-2 up. He led 15-40, having two chances on his opponent's serve to go 5-2 up. The turning point was Djokovic hitting a 110mph second serve that barely landed in, going on to win that point.
After the 24-time Grand Slam champion held that game, Djere felt pain during his next service game, holding his abdomen. He got broken to level the set and received a medical timeout when Djokovic held to go 4-5 up.
Unfortunately for Djere, it made no difference. Djokovic was now playing much better, and the younger Serbian tried to shorten the points due to his injury. He could not hit his way out of trouble and lost the second set 4-6.
Djere could not compete properly in the third set. After losing three games quickly, he retired to avoid making his problem worse with the score at 6-4, 6-4, 3-0 in Djokovic's favor.
Although the defending champion was undoubtedly sad to see his friend Djere retire, he would have also been happy to get off the court quickly and avoid playing a long match in the humidity in New York.
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