Novak Djokovic isn’t sugar coating his error-strewn three-set loss to Botic Van de Zandschulp at the BNP Paribas Open Saturday night. More pointedly, although he did label it ‘a bad day at the office’, he didn’t dismiss it as an outlier in what has been a challenging 16 months since he concluded his dominant 2023 season.
“You know, things are different obviously for me the last couple of years. I’ve been struggling to play on the desired level,” the 40-time ATP Masters 1000 champion said. “Every now and then, I have couple good tournaments, but mostly it’s really a challenge. It’s a struggle for me.
“I guess nothing can prepare you for that moment, in a sense. You have to experience it and try to deal with it in the best possible way. “
Djokovic hit just 16 winners to 37 unforced errors according to Infosys ATP Stats en route to his third consecutive defeat of the season.
After retiring in his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev, falling to Matteo Berrettini in his Doha opener and now suffering defeat to the Dutchman, it is just the second time Djokovic has lost three consecutive matches since the start of the 2008 season (2018, Aus. Open-Miami).
“The first three games, four games of the third set were quite close. Had my chances. Was just some awful mistakes,” said Djokovic, who is No. 5 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. “I thought I was on most of these points in the beginning of the third.
“I don’t know, when I reflect on this match, obviously I’ll see a little bit more what I could have done more, but… he played some really good points to break my serve. But just putting myself in that position, I shouldn’t allow myself to do that.”
In his 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 loss to Van de Zandschulp, Djokovic won just 29 per cent of second serves and sprayed 14 unforced forehand errors. He did not earn a break point in the first and third sets.
In 2023, Djokovic came within one match of completing the calendar-year Grand Slam, losing only to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. He finished the year with seven titles (his biggest haul since seven in 2016) and by winning his seventh Nitto ATP Finals and capturing ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours for a record-extending eighth time.
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