During the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters, the tennis world witnessed a massive upset as world no.1 Novak Djokovic lost to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Incidentally, this was only the fourth match of the Serb in 2022. Following his disappointing performance in the Dubai Open, he returned to Monte Carlo with the hope of winning the title and preparing for the French Open. However, this didn’t go according to his plan as this could be a huge setback for the Serbian. After the match, he made an honest admission about his performance.

Novak Djokovic lost his return match at Monte Carlo Masters

Many fans were already expecting a Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic quarter-final match-up. Unfortunately, they have to wait a little longer to see the same. Previously, the Serb played two times in 2021 against Davidovich Fokina and won both those encounters. Moreover, he didn’t even lose a set against the Spaniard in their previous meetings.

After the match, a dejected Djokovic said, “I collapsed physically. Didn’t like the way I felt in the end. Need to talk with my team.”

However, Djokovic was not letting go of defending his French Open crown as he vowed to work on his game to be ready for the Parisian Grand Slam.

“I’m not gonna stop here. I’m going to keep going and hopefully build my form for Roland Garros. You know, that’s the big goal of the clay season.”

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Earlier today in Monte-Carlo, Fokina took the first set from the Serb pretty easily by 6-3. The second set saw Novak making a pretty good recovery after going down early. He made a miraculous comeback to win the second set in the tie-break. However, the Spaniard played some unbelievable tennis to win the third set by 6-3,6-7,6-1 and win the match in three sets. The Spaniard took around 2 hours and 54 minutes to beat the 20-time Grand Slam winner.

Undoubtedly, this was the biggest win of Fokina’s career as he beat the current world no.1. For Novak, this is the second time he lost back-to-back matches. The last time it happened was in Tokyo Olympics last year.

What’s next for Novak?

Monte Carlo could have been a great tournament for Novak Djokovic as it sets a right tone for his French Open dreams. However, after losing to Davidovich Fokina, the Serb will have to rely on other clay-court tournaments. At the moment, his next tournament will take place in Serbia and is scheduled for the 18th of April.

After the home event in Belgrade, it’s pretty unclear where he will play next, as the Covid rules and regulations are different in different countries. It’s clear that he’s lacking match practice at the moment. However, his vaccine stance could prevent him from playing further tournaments during the clay-court season.

Can Djokovic turn it around and win the French Open? Let us know in the comments.

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