Indian Wells 2024: How Stroke of Luck Aided Novak Djokovic’s 20-Year-Old Opponent to Face His Idol

Published 03/11/2024, 11:09 AM EDT

The battle is heating up at the 2024 Indian Wells Masters. The tournament has already seen some big upsets as fans have been treated to some intriguing tennis action. World Number 1, Novak Djokovic, survived a scare in the second round of the tournament. He narrowly edged past Aleksander Vukic in three sets. Up next, he faces 20-year-old Italian sensation, Luca Nardi, and the latter has had an interesting build-up ahead of his match against Djokovic.

Nardi grew up watching Djokovic and he idolizes him. However, he has to consider himself lucky while facing his childhood hero. Let’s find out more about what led to their matchup.

Luck favors Luca Nardi to play against Novak Djokovic

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Nardi had to go through the qualifying rounds to play in the main draw of the 2024 Indian Wells Masters tournament. However, he lost his final qualifying match against David Goffin. The Italian sensation was third on the list of lucky losers.

When Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina withdrew from the tournament, Nardi made it to the main draw as a lucky loser. Not only did he qualify for the main draw but also got an entry directly into the second round as Etcheverry was seeded and received a bye in the opening round.

Talking about how he had already made up his mind about leaving Indian Wells, Nardi said, “I wasn’t thinking about staying here. I was supposed to leave on the following day.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic will be hoping for an easy outing against a player who is 16 years junior to him. If the Serb overcomes Nardi, he has some tough games waiting ahead of him. His difficult draw at Indian Wells has left some fans unimpressed.

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What did fans say about Djokovic’s Indian Wells draw?

The 24-time Grand Slam champion has one among Ugo Humbert and Tommy Paul waiting for him in the fourth round. Subsequently, he might potentially face Hurkacz or Ruud in the quarterfinals. His difficult path at Indian Wells didn’t go down well with the fans.

While one fan revealed the draw was, “rigged,” another fan claimed, “You could not find an easier draw for the faker? Disgusting, but the same always.”

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However, the Serb would like to take it one match at a time. He will take on Nardi soon on Court 1. Can Novak Djokovic lift the trophy in Indian Wells? Let us know your views in the comments below.

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Written by:

Vatsal Shah, a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports, combines sports management insight with two years of rich content creation experience. His journey at ES involves delving into the core of tennis, covering ATP/WTA tours, and contributing around 2000 articles. Notably, one of his pieces on Venus Williams garnered over 400k views.

Edited by:

Shudh Mukherjee

Indian Wells 2024: How Stroke of Luck Aided Novak Djokovic’s 20-Year-Old Opponent to Face His Idol

Luck favors Luca Nardi to play against Novak Djokovic

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What did fans say about Djokovic’s Indian Wells draw?