Djokovic crashes out of Indian Wells opener

5-time champion Novak Djokovic tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters on Saturday, falling in his first match to fortunate loser Botic van de Zandschulp.

The Dutch participant who toppled Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open final yr earlier than beating Rafael Nadal in Davis Cup within the Spanish nice’s final match, beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

The Serb star, seeded sixth, joined world quantity two and high seed Alexander Zverev and fourth seed Casper Ruud in exiting within the second spherical.

Thirty-seven unforced errors had been an excessive amount of for Djokovic to beat. After 14 within the first set he cleaned issues up within the second, grabbing a fast break on the best way to a 3-0 lead.

Djokovic pumped his fist after belting a forehand winner to the nook for his first break likelihood of the match and after consolidating the break nodded his head in satisfaction.

Nonetheless, van de Zandschulp wasn’t about to go quietly and the rallies remained tense affairs.Trailing 0-40 within the sixth recreation of the second set, Djokovic clawed out one other break in a recreation that went to deuce 5 instances, however he was damaged as he served for the set, gifting van de Zandschulp a 3rd break alternative with a forehand miss.Clearly pissed off at instances, Djokovic muscled a forehand winner to the baseline to safe the second set and degree the match.

It was solely a quick respite. Van de Zandschulp saved the stress on each from the baseline and on the web and Djokovic’s errors started to pile up once more.

Van de Zandschulp took management within the third with a break for 3-1. He dived for an unlikely winner to open the sport earlier than Djokovic missed a simple volley. Unable to transform his first break likelihood, van de Zandschulp gave himself one other with a stinging volley and caught Djokovic in midcourt with a lob.

Djokovic could not cease the bleeding as van de Zandschulp reeled off the final 5 video games.

Together with his eighth victory over a top-10 opponent, van de Zandschulp has earned back-to-back ATP victories for the primary time this yr.

Whereas Djokovic shares the Indian Wells report of 5 titles with Roger Federer, he hasn’t hoisted the trophy since 2016.

He hoped the teaching of former rival Andy Murray would assist him go deep this yr, however as a substitute it was an excellent earlier exit than in 2024 — when he misplaced to fortunate loser Luca Nardi within the third spherical.