Despite acknowledging that he had a “really bad day” at work following his Indian Wells Open loss to Luca Nardi, Novak Djokovic offered praise to the world No. 123, believing the young player “deserved to win.”
With his career-best victory of 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 over his idol Djokovic, Nardi created one of the biggest upsets in recent tennis history. He became the fourth lowest-ranked player to defeat the top player in the world at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
In what was Djokovic’s first encounter since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal, the 20-year-old Italian was sluggish and used his powerful forehand to hit several wins.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion broke in game five of the first set and quickly built a 2-0 lead in the second, giving the impression that the match would be easy for him. However, Nardi showed his mettle by breaking back right away and winning a second break in game six.
Game six of the championship match saw the pivotal break, and three games later, Nardi secured his first match point to set up a fourth-round matchup with Tommy Paul.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was confused by his own level, which was below his customarily high standards, as he played at Indian Wells for the first time in five years.
Since he had nothing to lose, he performed admirably. The Serbian declared, “Deserved to win.” “My level startled me more than anything. My performance was appallingly low.
These two elements combine. I’m having a terrible day, but he’s having a terrific one.
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“I made some really terrible unforced errors,” he continued.
“It’s just defensive tennis with little ball movement in the third game,” He simply intervened and made use of the time at his disposal.
“He was playing more freely and aggressively than I was, and it was sufficient to go for his shots and break for 3-2 in the third.”
With a 7-3 record, the legendary tennis player has only participated in two tournaments this year—the Australian Open and now Indian Wells—he is still without a trophy in 2024.
In spite of his loss, he will undoubtedly maintain his top spot in the ATP Rankings for at least another 15 days, or 420 weeks.
Next up for Djokovic is the Miami Open, which begins the following week.
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