“Crazy, crazy”
Nardi achieves a very rare feat against Djokovic
March 12, 2024, 6:32 a.m
The journey to the Californian desert ends surprisingly quickly for tennis star Novak Djokovic. After an arduous victory in the first round, it was over after the second game. The Serb loses to the big outsider Luca Nardi, who rarely succeeds.
Surprise in the Californian desert: Grand Slam record winner Novak Djokovic completely unexpectedly failed in the third round at the ATP Masters in Indian Wells. The Serb lost to the Italian “lucky loser” Luca Nardi 4:6, 6:3, 3:6. Djokovic’s return to the tour ended in bitter disappointment.
The top-seeded exceptional player played only his second game since the semi-final exit at the Australian Open last January, when he missed out on his 25th Grand Slam title due to a defeat against eventual champion Jannik Sinner (Italy). In the opening victory over outsider Aleksandar Vukic from Australia, Djokovic had to go through three sets at the first Masters of the season.
“I don’t know. I think it’s really a miracle. I’m a guy who’s not in the top 100 in the world and now I’m beating Novak – crazy, crazy,” Nardi, just 20 years old, said completely puzzled. “No one knew me before that night,” added the world number 123. Outsider Nardi did not allow himself to be intimidated by Djokovic, his childhood idol, and broke the 36-year-old to take a 4-2 lead in the deciding set, before he perfected the victory a short time later with an ace and then dropped his racket to the ground . Djokovic made 31 errors in just under two and a half hours of play.
Nardi was initially eliminated in the last qualifying round against the Belgian David Goffin, but later slipped into the main draw because another player had to withdraw. Shortly afterwards, he achieved a feat that only a few have achieved before: Nardi is only the sixth player outside the top 100 to defeat a world number one in a Masters tournament since 1990. Djokovic was playing in Indian Wells for the first time in five years and was originally aiming for his sixth triumph in the tournament, which is worth almost twelve million US dollars. Now the unexpected setback: Djokovic has now lost five of his last seven matches against Italians – including three against Sinner.