A “concerned” Novak Djokovic is set to undergo medical tests after feeling the effects of being struck on the head by a bottle in his shock exit from the Italian Open.
Djokovic was beaten 6-2 6-3 in just 67 minutes by Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in Rome, the six-time champion committing 22 unforced errors, serving five double faults and failing to create a single break point.
The one-sided loss came two days after Djokovic collapsed to the ground after being struck by a bottle which fell from a spectator’s backpack as the world number one signed autographs following his win over Corentin Moutet.
“I think in the video you saw it very clearly,” Djokovic said after his defeat to Tabilo.
“It was a very unfortunate, unlucky situation for me. It was an accident where that guy leaned over the fence, and the bottle dropped from his rucksack and landed directly on my head.
“It was unexpected obviously. I wasn’t even looking up. Then I felt a very strong hit in the head. That has, yeah, really impacted me a lot. Been through half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood, a lot of different things.
“I managed to sleep okay. I had headaches. The next day was pretty fine, so I thought it’s okay. Maybe it is okay. Maybe it’s not.
“I mean, the way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot.
“It’s a bit concerning. I didn’t do any scans or any tests. Right now, I feel like I should do it, so I will do it and let’s see. Let’s see what’s happening.”
The tone for the contest was set early on when Djokovic saved three break points in the opening game, two with aces and the third with a sublime drop shot from behind the baseline, only to serve a double fault after Tabilo created a fourth break point opportunity.
Two brilliant winners then gave Tabilo a second break for 3-0 and the 26-year-old showed no signs of nerves as he served out for the set with the minimum of fuss after just 31 minutes.
Fans expecting a determined response from Djokovic were in for a shock when he instead started the second set with consecutive double faults to lose his serve once more, the 24-time grand slam winner strangely rushing through his service games.
Tabilo continued to hold serve with ease and fittingly it was another Djokovic double fault on the first match point which sealed the biggest win of 29th seed’s career to date.
“I came on court just looking around, just trying to soak it all in, trying to process everything and now I just can’t believe it. I’m trying to wake up right now,” Tabilo said in an on-court interview broadcast on Sky Sports.
“I was just trying to keep my nerves in, keep swinging. Obviously every time you feel you’re closer to the end your arm starts to get a little tighter so I was just trying to not think about it, take it point by point and it’s crazy.
“I can’t believe what just happened.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here