After succumbing to his second loss in as many matches, Novak Djokovic made a surprising admission about his fitness following what has been a tough year so far for him.
The Serbian tennis star played his first match in two months at the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday and was beaten by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who triumphed 6-3 6-7 6-1 in just under three hours. The tennis legend won less than half of his service points and struggled to acclimatise to the tricky conditions.
And after the defeat, he said he was unable to keep up with his opponent from a physical standpoint. "I didn't like the way I felt physically in the third set. I just ran out of the gas completely,” the world number one surprisingly admitted. “Just couldn't really stay in the rally with him. If you can't stay in the rally, not feeling your legs on the clay, it's mission impossible.
"So I don't like that feeling I experienced in the third set but I'm going to look with my team into reasons why that was the case and go back to the drawing board and hopefully next week will be better in Belgrade." The 34-year-old has many qualities on the tennis court, one of them being his elite fitness levels, which has seen him outlast great rival Rafael Nadal in some gruelling battles over the years.
But considering Djokovic has played just four matches over the course of two tournaments since last December, it is understandable that he found it difficult to raise his energy levels. “I was hanging on the ropes the entire match. I was really chasing the result constantly,” he continued.
“I always believed that I could come back and win the match, and I stayed there even though a lot of things were against me in terms of how I felt on the court. Game-wise, physically I was just far from my best. So of course in those types of conditions and circumstances, then you have to really work two times more than you normally would.
“And again, I played a clay-court specialist. He had a match already on centre court a few days ago.I expected this match to be [a] really tough match, [a] physical battle, and that's what it was.
“Unfortunately I'm on the shorter end of the stick, and my week ends here.” There is no time for the tennis star to rest on his laurels as he will compete in front of his home fans at the Belgrade Open next week.
“Obviously it is what it is. I have to accept the defeat and keep working,” he added. “I’m going to look with my team into reasons why that was the case and go back to the drawing board. Hopefully next week will be better in Belgrade.”
