Novak Djokovic is not having a good season, and he admitted it after losing to Casper Ruud in the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters semi-final.
Matches like the one in the semi-final of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo are matches that Djokovic routinely won in the past. For a moment in his match against Ruud, it looked like he would do it because the second set dominance (6-1) was tremendous.
What followed was him totally dropping his focus and falling behind 0-3 in the third set, while the Norwegian played great tennis. He would battle back to make it 4-4 but then double-faulted on match point down 4-5.
It's just not been a good season compared to what he produced before. He's yet to make a final after the loss to Ruud, and the season is midway through April. That's just not what he's come to be used to and what fans are expecting to see, and he's aware of that. He talked about it after the match.
"Well, I mean, I'm used to really high standard in terms of expectations of the results, so not having a title is, maybe comparing to the last 15 years, not a great season at all. But I had semis of Australia, semis here. I only played three tournaments this year, so of course, you know, it's normal to expect that you have some seasons where you don't start well, and this is the one."
Still, Djokovic's season is not terrible overall, but it is when compared to what he used to produce before 2024. Ultimately, he hopes to rack up some wins in the coming weeks because a very important summer is coming up, and he's certainly not happy with the way he's played.
"Hopefully, yeah, I can pick up, in terms of results, I can build from here, because, you know, I played some good tennis. Hopefully in the next tournaments I'll be able to play even better."