Novak Djokovic Loses In Two Sets In His Last Match Before Wimbledon
NewsFriday, 27 June 2025 at 22:52
Novak Djokovic played his final match before starting his campaign at this year's Wimbledon Championships, but it was a loss for the seven-time champion.
Djokovic is one of the most successful players in the history of Wimbledon, and he is also one of the best grass-court players to ever walk the Earth. Therefore, he's always in the debate about winning at Wimbledon.
In fact, Djokovic has played in a final at Wimbledon in the past six editions, but he last walked away with the trophy in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, Carlos Alcaraz beat him in the final.
This year, the young Spaniard will be the favorite to win again, with Jannik Sinner joining him on the list of favorites. Djokovic's name will be on it too, but he wasn't as impressive as he tends to be in his only preparation match before the Championships.
The 38-year-old Serbian chose to compete at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club, and he took on Karen Khachanov on Friday evening.
They have previously met 10 times on the ATP Tour, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion winning nine of those matches, but this time, Khachanov sensed an upset, and he sensed well.
Both players had one break point in the first set of the match, and after they both failed to use their chances, a tie-break had to decide. There was only one mini-break in the tie-break, and it went Khachanov's way, with the Russian winning the tie-break 7-4.
Novak Djokovic at the 2025 Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic
Djokovic knew he had to improve to win the match, and he came close to making it more dramatic in the second set. At 2-2, the seven-time Wimbledon champion had four break points, but Khachanov held.
The Russian player then continued serving impressively, and that gave him a chance at 5-4. Djokovic didn't play a good game when serving for the set. He was broken to love, losing the match 6-7(4), 4-6.
It was Djokovic's only official (even though exhibition) match on grass before this year's Wimbledon. Despite the loss, he seemed upbeat when talking about Wimbledon during his interview at the event.
"Plenty of things are happening in my private life with two kids, but I try to balance it with my professional life. I still strive to be on the court and on the tour, winning competitions. Wimbledon has always been a childhood dream tournament for me, more than any other place, so it's a huge honour to participate in another Wimbledon addition like this one against one of the youngsters [Karen] Khachanov."
"The youngsters are coming up in the new generation. They’re exciting and bringing a lot of energy to the court. You saw the Roland Garros final, that was definitely one of the best matches that we’ve seen in decades, and tennis is in good hands."
Djokovic will take on Alexandre Muller in his first match at this year's Wimbledon. The French player has recently played in great form, but he lost to Djokovic in their only meeting at the 2023 US Open.
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