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 a 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 might 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.
0 Comments