This is the big blur for Novak Djokovic. This season, the Serbian tennis player has still not won a title. Worse, two weeks before Roland-Garros, of which he is the outgoing winner, the world number 1 was sharply eliminated, Sunday May 12, from the Rome tournament, in the third round, by the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, 31st in the ATP rankings : 6-2, 6-3.
We have to go back to May 2017 to find traces of a comparable correction in the Masters 1000, when “Djoko” was outclassed by Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals in Madrid.
On Sunday, the Serb appeared exhausted, without desire, multiplying direct errors, two days after an unusual and painful mishap: Friday evening, he was knocked out by the water bottle that fell from a spectator’s bag while he was signing autographs after his easy victory against Frenchman Corentin Moutet (6-3, 6-1).
“You have to congratulate my opponent, I had never faced him,” he declared at a press conference after the match. He is a good player, very complete, I was not able to find good sensations on the court. »
And to continue: “I was completely off the mark, lacking rhythm and balance (…) I can’t say [if what happened on Friday] had an impact. Examinations will have to be done. »
A singularly damaged confidence
The day after the elimination of Rafael Nadal, record holder for victories in the Italian capital (10), the tournament lost another player who marked its history. Novak Djokovic, six-time winner of the event, had not left the Foro Italico so prematurely since 2018 (in the second round).
He will approach the second Grand Slam tournament (May 26 to June 9) of the year with a singularly damaged confidence, having played little (five tournaments) and with two semi-finals (Australian Open and Monte-Carlo) as his best results. Carlo).
After his outing on the Rock, he skipped the Masters 1000 in Madrid to return to training. On his arrival in Rome, he assured that he was “on the right track to be in peak form at Roland-Garros”.
To be able to shine at Porte d’Auteuil, the man with 24 Grand Slams knows it, he will have to pull himself together. “I have to improve everything, really everything,” he admitted on Sunday.
