Serbian tennis player and World No. 1, Novak Djokovic, has been knocked out of the Italian Open following a 2-6, 3-6 defeat suffered to the World No. 32, Alejandro Tabilo, in Rome, Italy.
Facing the world-ranked number 1, Tabilo was in constant fear. While in the contest with the Serbian, Tabilo took advantage of Djokovic’s uncharacteristically errant serving to pull off a tremendous victory.
Tabilo, in his interview after the game, expressed how nervous he was playing against Djokovic:
“I was just trying to keep my nerves,” Tabilo said. “You feel like you’re closer to the end, your arm starts to get a little tighter… It’s crazy. I can’t believe what just happened.”
Many had attributed his loss to the accident he encountered in Rome on Friday. Djokovic was hit with an unexpected bottle on the head, suffering an injury with light bleeding.
After his second round that Friday, Djokovic was exchanging pleasantries with fans and signing autographs when a bottle slipped off a fan’s bag and hit his head. He fell down immediately and was taken away for medical attention.
After the game, Djokovic refused to attribute his loss to the accident, rather, he said that his coordination on the court was poorer than he had expected.
“Today under high stress, it was quite bad, not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago.”
Tabilo will face Russian World No. 18 Karen Khachanov in the next round, while Djokovic looks ahead to the French Open, where he is the defending champion, which begins next Monday.
