ROME, Italy – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was eliminated Sunday in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Rome, dominated by Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, 32nd in the ATP rankings, 6-2, 6-3.
Two weeks before Roland-Garros (May 26-June 9), Djokovic, 36, is in the greatest limbo: he is still in search of his first title of the year and is evolving far from his usual standards.
We have to go back to May 2017 to find traces of a comparable correction in the Masters 1000, when “Djoko” was outclassed by Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals in Madrid.
The Serb appeared exhausted, without desire, multiplying direct errors during this meeting, two days after a painful and unusual mishap: Friday evening, he was knocked out by the water bottle that fell from a spectator’s bag while he was signing autographs after his easy victory against Frenchman Corentin Moutet (6-3, 6-1).
With his skull cut, he was able to quickly return to his hotel, without going to a hospital, and trained normally the next day.
The day after the elimination of Rafael Nadal, record holder for victories in Rome (10), the Roman tournament lost another player who marked its history.
The Serbian, six-time winner of the event, had not left the Foro Italico so prematurely since 2018 (elimination in the 2nd round).
He will approach the second Grand Slam tournament of the year with a singularly damaged confidence, having played little (five tournaments) and with two semi-finals (Australian Open, Monte-Carlo) as his best results.
After his elimination in Monte-Carlo, he skipped the Masters 1000 in Madrid to return to training. On his arrival in Rome, he assured that he was “on the right track to be in peak form at Roland-Garros”.
That was before a gourd, then the Roman sky, in the form of an uninhibited Tabilo, fell on his head.
Dimitrov slows down Atmane
There was no exploit for Terence Atmane: the Frenchman, who had only won one match on the ATP circuit before this week, held up well, before being subjected to the law of the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Atmane, who went through qualifying and 137th in the ATP rankings, lost in two sets 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 against the 10th in the world.
