Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic suffered a setback to the preparations for the defence of his French Open title on Sunday when he lost in straight sets in the third round to the 29th seed Alejandro Tabilo at the Italian Open in Rome.
Tabilo breezed past the six-time winner 6-2, 6-3 and in the last-16 will play the 16th seed Karen Khachanov who advanced after his 6-2, 6-4 sweep past Francisco Cerundolo.
During his 67-minute clash, Tabilo unleashed 22 winners past Djokovic who managed to land only 48 percent of his first serves during the opening set.
“I’m trying to soak it all in and wake up right now,” Tabilo said. “I was just trying to keep my nerves and keep swinging. Towards the end my arms were getting tired but I was trying not to think about it.
“It’s crazy, I just can’t believe what’s happened. I can’t believe it right now. I don’t think anyone can believe it.”
Following his second round match on Friday, Djokovic collapsed to the floor after a water bottle slipped out of a rucksack and hit him on the head while he was signing autographs.
Recovery
“I was going for kind of easy training on Saturday," said Djokovic. "I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same.
“Today under high stress, it was quite bad — not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from two nights ago ... I don’t know. I have to do medical check-ups and see what’s going on.”
Djokovic is still without a title this year — the first time he has reached May without a trophy since 2018 when he was returning from an injury to his right elbow.
On Saturday, former world number one Rafael Nadal lost his second round match against the ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Nadal, who has lifted the Italian Open a record 10 times, says he expects to retire from the senior circuit at the end of the season having spent most of last year nursing a hip issue that required surgery. A muscle tear in Brisbane stalled his comeback in January.
Following his defeat in the second round, the 37-year-old Spaniard he was given an emotional ovation by the fans on centre court.
Ciao, Rafa. pic.twitter.com/eDUxxVkhFP
— Internazionali BNL d'Italia (@InteBNLdItalia) May 11, 2024
Nadal later admitted he was still unsure as to whether he will play at the French Open which starts on 26 May.
"You can see on the court how difficult it is," said Nadal who has won the men's singles title in Paris a record 14 times.
"Probably I can say: 'Okay, I'm not ready, I'm not playing well.' Then it's the moment to take a decision in terms of not playing at the French Open," he added.
"Another is accept how I am today and work the proper way to try to be in a different way in two weeks.
"The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today. But if I have to say what my feeling is and if my mind is closer one way or the other way ... I'm going to say: 'Be at the French Open and try my best.'
"Physically, I have some issues but not yet probably enough to say that I am not going to play at the most important event of my tennis career."
