by The five -time champion Novak Djokovic fell from the Indian Wells Atp Masters on Saturday and fell in his first game against Lucky Loser Botic van de Zandschulp.
The Dutch player, who fell Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open last year before defeating Rafael Nadal in the Davis Cup in the last game of the Spanish Great, defeated the 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 6: 2, 3, 6: 1.
The Serb star, who looked sixth, competed in the world number two and the top seed Alexander Zverev and the fourth seed Casper Ruud in the second round.
Thirty -seven, casual errors were too much to overcome Djokovic. After 14 in the first sentence, he cleaned up things in the second and reached a quick break on the way to a 3-0 lead.
Djokovic pumped his fist after making a forehand winner for his first break chance of playing the game and consolidation of the break into the corner, nodding his head in satisfaction.
However, Van de Zandschulp was unable to calm down and the rallies remained tense affairs.
In the sixth game of the second set, Djokovic was 0: 40 in a game that went five times, but he was broken when he served for the set, and gave van de Zandschulp a third break with a forehand miss.
Djokovic Musklede sometimes clearly frustrated and has a forehand winner of the base line to secure the second set and reach the match.
It was just a short break. Van de Zandschulp stopped the pressure from both the baseline and online, and Djokovic’s errors were stacked again.
Van de Zandschulp took control of 3: 1 in the third. Van de Zandschulp, who could not convert his first chance for the first break, gave himself another with a piercing volley and caught Djokovic in the middle place with praise.
Djokovic could not stop the bleeding when Van de Zandschulp pulled out the last five games.
With his eighth victory over a top 10 opponent, Van de Zandschulp won ATP wins for the first time this year.
While Djokovic picks up the Indian Wells record of five titles with Roger Federer, he has not lifted the trophy since 2016.
He hoped that the coaching of the former rival Andy Murray would help him go deep this year, but instead it was an even earlier exit than in 2024 – when he lost in the third round against Lucky Luca Nardi.
BB/SEV
