Novak Djokovic suffered a shocking defeat in his opening match at the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters when he lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
ATP's world number 1 entered the match as a clear favorite, despite being away from the courts for the majority of the 2022 season. Djokovic was the first-seeded player in the Monte-Carlo Masters draw, and the expectations were the highest, as always from the Serbian.
Ahead of the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event, Djokovic talked about his motivation, and that certainly doesn't seem to be problem when going into the match, but the Serbian seemingly lacked some match practice.
22-year-old Davidovich Fokina started the match swiftly when he quickly had a 4-1 lead over the 20-time Grand Slam champion. When it looked like Djokovic might be coming back in the first set, the Spaniard broke his service game again and won the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Davidovich Fokina built a comfortable 3-0 lead again, however, his Serbian opponent was able to force the tie-break, in which he hoped to turn the match around, and for a moment, it seemed that he may be able to do that.
In the tie-break, Davidovich Fokina found himself as close as two points from winning the match and recording one of the biggest wins of his career; however, Djokovic managed to win the tie-break 7-5 and force the third set in front of the packed stands in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Yet, the third set of the match was surprisingly one-sided. Davidovich Fokina started with a break and hold of his serve. Djokovic then failed to convert his breakpoints, and Davidovich Fokina added another two breaks.
The 20-time major winner was then not able to respond to that, what resulted in a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 victory after 2 hours and 56 minutes for the Spanish player.
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