Novak Djokovic hadn’t lost a second round match in almost three years before unexpectedly being sent off packing in his debut match at the 2016 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. A favourite to win the tournament, just like for any event entered by the Serb in the past two years, Novak crashed out against Jiri Vesely in three sets. Looking visibly tired and not so comfortable on clay, the World No.1 commented on his loss saying he looks forward to enjoy some needed and well deserved rest.
Djokovic won’t be playing in a tournament again until next month, when he will make his debut in the second Masters 1000 of the season on clay in Madrid. The early exit of the blatant favourite opened up interesting perspectives on the draw. With Djokovic out all eyes immediately got set on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The eternal rivals could be meeting in the final, if they both were to edge on with good performances. After both reaching the quarter-finals on Thursday, Nadal and Federer were asked to comment on Djokovic’s lost in Monte-Carlo and that is what they had to say.
Nadal was the first to enter the press conference room after taking revenge over Dominic Thiem, who had beaten him on clay earlier this year.
”Everybody can lose. That’s the real thing. That’s the good thing in sport. Novak, I think is the first match of the year that he lose.” Nadal told the reporters in Monte-Carlo. When he was told that in fact the Serb had already lost in Dubai, Rafa made sure to make his point clear when saying: “In Dubai he retired. But this is the first match he really lose of the year. After a lot of difficult tournaments, that’s an amazing thing. You can forgive him for one day (smiling).”
Few hours later it was time for Federer to meet with the press, after conquering a slot in the last 8 in Monte-Carlo beating Bautista-Agut in straight sets in his first tournament played in the year after the Australian Open and a knee injury.
“We as tennis players know that losses can come in any given match. So for us it’s not that big of a surprise that top guys lose sometimes. Maybe didn’t expect this one coming. But which one do you expect of Novak to come?
You can’t win them all. So from that point it was surprising to see him lose in the first round here in Monaco where he trains so much, where you would think that he feels comfortable, and he probably does. Even though he lost, he probably still could have won the tournament.
I think it gives other players hope. It shows once again how tough the game is, that no match is guaranteed for a win. I know that people, fans, especially press, get carried away. They think he’s never going to lose again, or top guys cannot lose against a guy ranked out of the top 10, 30, 50 or 100. We know it happens very quickly.
I didn’t see much of the match. I saw the last two games, so…”