Novak Djokovic suffered a stunning three-set defeat to Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday at the Monte-Carlo Masters. It is a match the World No. 1 wants to move on from quickly.
Musetti earned the biggest win of his career at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. “I don’t think it’s catastrophic, but my feeling is bad right now because I lost the match. That’s all. Congrats to my opponent. I move on,” Djokovic said
In wet and windy conditions on Court Rainier III, the 21-year-old Italian took advantage of Djokovic’s poor serving performance, breaking him eight times en route to a two-hour, 54-minute victory. Musetti, who was overcome with emotion after converting his fourth match point, looked at his teammates and shook his head in disbelief.
“I am struggling not to cry. It is an emotional win because it was a really long match. Three-hour match and was suspended by rain. It was not easy condition because it was a little bit windy and cold. Not like we used to play in recent days. I am really proud of myself and I can see on the screen. I am struggling not to cry because it is a dream for me,” Musetti said in his on-court interview.
Djokovic arrived in Monte-Carlo with impressive serving statistics, averaging one service game lost per match in 2023. The top seed, however, lost his serve eight times against Musetti, whom he had defeated in all three of their previous ATP Head2Head matches.
“Well, [my] feeling is terrible after playing like this, honestly. But congrats to him.
He stayed tough in important moments, and that’s it. That’s all I can say. Good luck to him,” Djokovic said.
Reporters at Djokovic’s press conference pressed the Serbian to learn if he thought a performance like this was coming.
“You always hope for the good day in the office. But yeah, I know I’m not playing so great and he’s playing very well, so I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Djokovic added.
This was his first tournament since Dubai in early March. Djokovic confirmed he will play next week at the Srpska Open in Banja Luka.