by Marco Calabresi
Seeded no. 1 of the Italian Internationals, Novak Djokovic eliminated in the third round: he loses 6-2, 6-3 to the Chilean Tabilo
Sensational at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. World number 1 Novak Djokovic also misses, beaten 6-2 6-3 by Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. A totally unexpected result, as no one could have imagined such a performance from the Serbian, winner of six editions of the Foro Italico tournament and who is missing his 1100th success at ATP level (he is stuck at 1099). If two days ago Djokovic left the Center with his hands on his head after the water bottle accidentally fell from a spectator’s backpack, this time his head is down for another reason.
A defeat, that of Djokovic, which also has repercussions on the ranking in view of Paris, with Jannik Sinner an interested spectator: if the Serbian does not in fact reach at least the final at Roland Garros, the blue player would become number one in the world even without playing. The other condition that must not occur is Daniil Medvedev’s Roma-Roland Garros double, still in the running at the Foro Italico.
«I didn’t have any good feeling on the pitch – Nole’s words -. It’s as if a different player has stepped into my shoes. I don’t know if it has anything to do with what happened on Friday, I was totally off. Yesterday I didn’t feel anything, but today it was very difficult for coordination, rhythm and balance. I haven’t done any tests, right now I feel like I should have: now I’ll do it and let’s see what comes out.”
Inevitable, in the immediate words, to return to the episode of two days ago after the match against Atmane. «In the video you can see that it was an unfortunate episode, the water bottle slipped and fell on my head. I felt a very strong blow, I had an hour of nausea and I lost blood. I managed to sleep, but with a headache: I thought I was fine, but that wasn’t the case.”
The match had far too little to say: sixty-eight minutes of almost monologue from the Chilean, number 32 in the world. A defeat which for Nole – who will arrive at the start of Roland Garros without titles – is probably worse than the already surprising one against Luca Nardi at Indian Wells. It was immediately clear that the match could provide a shock result, with a double break by the Chilean, who took it all the way to the end of the first set. Just as there was a break at the beginning of the second set, when it was thought that the 6-2 suffered by Djokovic in 31 minutes could just be an accident. Instead it was only the first half of a Sunday to forget.
May 12, 2024 (changed May 13, 2024 | 12:07)
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