Novak Djokovic’s difficult start to the season continued on the North American hard courts as he crashed out of Indian Wells with an extremely poor performance in his opening match, losing 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the second round to the world No 85, Botic van de Zandschulp.
Despite producing arguably the best performance of the year in his four-set victory over Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open, Djokovic has now lost three consecutive matches since that triumph. The thigh injury Djokovic suffered during his win over Alcaraz forced him to retire from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev and then he fell in the first round of the Qatar Open last month to Matteo Berrettini.
