Early elimination of the Serbian, who fell in three sets against the Italian Luca Nardi, world number 123. The match was marked by a point which triggered Nole’s annoyance.
In the third round and against a player outside the Top 100. This shows how unusual the defeat (1st) of Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells was. The Serbian, world number one, saw his dream return to California frustrated after five years without playing the first Masters 1000 of the season. He lost 4-6, 6-3 and 3-6 against the Italian Luca Nardi (123rd) in a match marked by a controversial claim from Nole.
The ball in question occurred in the third game of the second set, when Nardi had a break chance to make it 1-2. The Serb served and the 20-year-old Italian returned the ball after a one-second pause, as if the ball had hit outside the service area.
The move confused Djokovic, who followed the point with a short one. That’s when he stopped and opened his arms, thinking it was going to happen again. This did not happen and Nardi responded to the ball winning the game. Obviously, this is where the 24-time Grand Slam champion exploded.
“It literally stopped and started. And that completely confused me. And I stopped too. How can you not make this judgment? Are you bothering me or what? “, reproached the one born in the Balkans to the match referee, who replied: “Do you want me to do an obstacle?” “Of course because it stopped. The guy stopped , played the ball like that and stopped,” Novak said annoyed.
“Just because he stays there and doesn’t continue to play doesn’t mean he’s like that. This is no reason to be an obstacle. I understand your point of view, but for me, it’s not an obstacle “, the linesman ended up explaining to him. The rule they are talking about (obstacle in English) refers to a punishment that referees can dictate if they consider that a player has carried out an action aimed at deceiving or harming his rival in a racket. The clearest example is a tennis player speaking in the middle of a point.
The repercussions of the defeat
For the Italian, it will be his entry onto the main covers of the tennis world. Mainly because of his surprising story last week. He lost in the final round of the Indian Wells playoffs, but Tomás Etcheverry’s last-minute withdrawal moved him into the main draw. With this, he positions himself as the first lucky loser to win a set against Djokovic and the lowest-ranked tennis player to beat a Masters 1000 number one since 2008.
I was surprised by my level of play, really bad. I’m going to take a good look at what I could have done to make things different. It’s not a good feeling to leave here so soon, I wanted to do well after five years without competition. I made terrible unforced errors and played pretty defensively. No excuses, I should have done much better. “It was a very bad performance on my part,” Djokovic admitted.
“It’s a miracle. I’m a 20-year-old guy outside the Top 100 and I just beat Novak. Crazy,” the Italian said on center court at Indian Wells, tennis’ second-largest stadium of the planet.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
