Djokovic Suffers Stunning Indian Wells Loss but Comes Back with Short-Lived Doubles Triumph

It should’ve been an easy match for the World No. 1 player, especially when that player hadn’t dropped a single set in four matches since the Australian Open back in January. However, the third-round Indian Wells match between Novak Djokovic and former World No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber ended in a shock exit for the top seed.

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Walking into the match at the PNB Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Tuesday, March 12^th, Djokovic brought with him five, tour-level titles since his resurgence at Wimbledon last summer (including the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open) and a total of five singles titles from Indian Wells. Walking out of the match, he left the tennis world in shock and failed to find an explanation for how he got knocked out so early.

Djokovic, looking remarkably out of sorts during the 98-minute match, committed a total of 27 unforced errors, saved only one out of four of Kohlschreiber’s break-point opportunities, only converting one of his five total break points and even destroyed a racket in frustration.

The German, who at the time of play was ranked 39^th in the world, began dominating during the seventh game of the first set and maintained his serve to take the opener. Although Djokovic managed to recoup one when it was Kohlschreiber’s turn to serve for the match in the eighth game of the second set, he couldn’t do the same at match point in the 10^th game. The results were 6-4 6-4.

Djokovic was simply unable to live up to bookmakers’, fans’ and pundits’ expectations for this third-round dual. His loss even surprised himself: “I thought I was in good form. I was practicing well. But it just happens, one of those days.”

A Short-Lived Victory in Doubles

Luckily, the top-seeded Serb didn’t have too much time to wallow in the loss. A few hours after stepping off the court, he would take to it once again, this time with doubles partner Fabio Fognini. It’s rare to see a top-seeded player pay so much attention to doubles tournaments, especially one that he has quite literally walked off the court with a loss, but Djokovic has made time in his schedule for Indian Wells doubles off and on since 2011.

Admitting to being “distracted” during the match against Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, especially when he was hitting things like “a good return,” which didn’t happen in his singles match, nevertheless, Djokovic and Fognini claimed a 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 10-6 victory that saw them advance to the semifinals.

It almost seemed that, for this Masters tournament at least, Djokovic had refocused and set his sights on scooping the doubles trophy, but another disappointing loss during the semis put paid to that ambition. It was a tight match, but he and Fognini ultimately lost 7-6 (5) 2-6 10-6 to Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo during the semifinals on Friday, March 15^th.

Nadal Pulls Out of Semifinal Match Against Federer

Djokovic’s double disappointment wasn’t the only shocker to hit the 2019 Indian Wells Masters. “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal, unfortunately, had to withdraw from a scheduled semifinal against Roger Federer due to a knee injury.

The World No. 2 player was set to take on the Swiss master on Saturday, March 16^th for a coveted place in the final after triumphing over his previous opponents without dropping a set. His knee problem seemed to flare up during his quarterfinal match against Karen Khachanov on Friday, March 15^th where his trainer treated him twice. Although he hoped he would be fit to play this all-important semifinal, after warming up on Saturday morning, he felt that “my knee was not good to compete at the level I needed” to take on Federer, and he made the decision to withdraw from the competition.

The G.O.A.T. advanced to the finals with a walkover where he faced and eventually lost to Austrian player Dominic Thiem. Thiem, with his first Masters title firmly under his belt, has promptly moved up to fourth place in the official ATP World rankings.