Novak Djokovic lost to Thiago Agustín Tirante, ranked No. 50 in the world, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday at the Cincinnati Open. After the match, Djokovic disclosed that he has lived with an unspecified health condition for years, one that hot and humid weather can aggravate. Two facts in one afternoon — an upset and a long-held secret — now reframe how the final major of the season should be assessed.
Lithuanian Tennis Followers Recalibrate as Djokovic’s Odds Shift
Tomas Augustis, a sports reviewer who has tracked the Lithuanian sports-prediction scene for more than a decade, says the pattern is impossible to ignore for fans in his market. Djokovic is 39 years old, has played a compressed schedule, withdrew from Montreal, and has now put a name, however vague, to a physical problem that has followed him for years.
“The Montreal withdrawal, the thin schedule, and now a health admission in the same summer — fans who were watching Djokovic closely already sensed something was off. The markets are starting to reflect that, and people want to know exactly how.”
Those followers, Augustis notes, are turning to Lazybu Lithuania to read how shifting outright and match odds now price in that uncertainty, particularly as the US Open draw approaches.
What Happened on Court in Cincinnati
According to Heavy., Djokovic took the first set 6-2 before the match turned sharply. During the second set, he appeared to vomit into a towel. Medical staff checked his blood pressure, and he sat shirtless with an ice pack during a medical timeout. Tirante held composure through both the changed momentum and the delay, taking the second and third sets 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic was clear afterward about what he believed drove the episode. He said the heat and humidity were not the root cause; instead, the combination of physical stress, nerves, and match tension made the underlying condition worse. “It causes me a lot of problems,” he said. For Tirante, the win stood as the biggest victory of his career. The stadium has seen exceptional tennis from Djokovic before — his 2023 final against Carlos Alcaraz ran nearly four hours and remains widely regarded as one of the finest best-of-three-set matches ever played. Saturday’s result was nothing like that match, which made it all the more significant.
A Thin Bridge Between Wimbledon and New York
The structural problem around Saturday’s loss is that Cincinnati was Djokovic’s only scheduled singles tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open. He withdrew from the National Bank Open in Montreal after consulting with his team, leaving Cincinnati as the sole opportunity to gather hard-court match sharpness before the final major.
One competitive match — a second-round loss interrupted by a medical timeout — is now all the preparation he carries into New York. When Tirante pushed deep into the second set and the conditions bore down, Djokovic had no recent match-play reservoir to draw on. He has also signaled that this may be his last time at the event. “It seems more likely that I won’t be back next year,” he said, though he stopped short of making that final.
The US Open Picture, 25th Major in Sight
Djokovic is a 24-time Grand Slam champion and four-time US Open champion. A title in New York would give him a record-extending 25th major singles title, a number that would move beyond any mark previously set on the men’s tour. The season has shown he remains capable at the highest level — he reached the Australian Open final and the Wimbledon semifinals this year. That consistency is real.
Still, the US Open draws best-of-five sets across seven rounds in the late-August heat and humidity of New York. The same conditions Djokovic described as aggravating an unspecified, long-running health problem are the conditions he will face from the moment singles play opens on Aug. 30. He is also entered in the mixed doubles event alongside world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, scheduled for Aug. 24-26, meaning his week begins before the singles draw even starts.
The ambition is concrete. Twenty-five majors. A fourth US Open title. Djokovic’s record this season says the target is reachable. His body’s cooperation across two weeks in Flushing Meadows is a question that Saturday in Cincinnati left firmly unanswered.
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