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Novak Djokovic struggled with intense heat and humidity during the second set on Saturday but put up a fight before losing 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Argentina's Thiago Tirante in a match that may have been the Serb's final appearance at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
The second-round battle lasting for more than two and a half hours was the first match for the 39-year-old with 24 Grand Slam singles titles since he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals more than a month ago.
Djokovic, who claimed the last of his three Cincinnati titles in 2023, claimed the opening set with little fuss.
He won a brutal 18-minute third game of the second set, saving four break points over nine deuces, but was bending over in distress between points and even dropping to his hands and knees after one particularly grueling exchange.
Djokovic took a medical timeout after that game, with the physio and then a doctor coming on court to assist with assessments and ice towels.
After Tirante took the second set, both players cooled off in the locker room.
Slightly revived, Djokovic set the pace again in the deciding set. But it all went wrong in the ninth game, when Djokovic saved three break points before getting it wrong on a drop shot to bring up a fourth break chance that his opponent converted.
Tirante clinched the biggest win of his career in the next game as Djokovic again failed to land a drop shot on match point. The Serb, who must now try to regroup before the US Open starts on August 30, admitted he might have played his last match in Cincinnati.
"It looks like I won't be back, unfortunately, to play here," he said, confirming that the sweltering weather got the better of him. "It was a combination of the heat and humidity, all those things," he said. "Everything involved makes it worse."
Seventh seed Flavio Cobolli, runner-up at the French Open, defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Martin Landaluce beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach a third-round clash against Tirante.
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