Novak Djokovic's comeback from an injury in singles ended in disappointment at the Qatar Open on Tuesday as he went down to Italy's former World No.6 Matteo Berrettini in straight sets in Doha.
Djokovic, the third seed who was expected to go all the way after retiring from his Australian Open semifinal against Alexander Zverev with a hamstring injury last month, went down to Berrettini 7-6(4), 6-2 in one hour and 33 minutes.
The 28-year-old Berrettini is currently ranked 35th in the ATP Rankings. On Tuesday, he survived a few anxious moments, including a couple of break points in the sixth game of the first set, before winning the tiebreak. He then broke Djokovic twice in the second set to clinch a memorable win.
After his defeat, Djokovic gave credit to Berrettini and said his opponent played a ‘master class match’ and deserved to win.
I was outplayed by just a better player today. He was just the better player. I think he played a master class match, to be honest, tactically, and served very well, so just a very deserved win from his side.
I wasn't at my desired level, and, you know, it could be that I'm still not moving the way I want to move, but, I mean, I played without pain, so there is no excuse in that.
Though Djokovic said he has recovered from that injury and did not face any discomfort on Tuesday, the 37-year-old Serb had his chances in the first set but failed to capitalize on that.
Asked whether he was in any discomfort since he was playing his first match after pulling out of the Australian Open with an injury. Djokovic replied in the negative.
I didn't have any pain or discomfort in that sense.
I am trying to improve my game, as everybody else, but, you know, my game is not going to change now drastically. I'm not going to play serve and volley, maybe every once in a while, but my game is what it is, the core is going to be the same. I'm going to try, obviously, to adjust depending upon the surface that I play on and so forth.
There are more injuries, for sure. Things are not the same as 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I still try to take care of my body on a daily basis, and, yeah, it's more challenging now, no doubt, but, you know, I still try to do my very best, given the circumstances.
Djokovic will have to quickly put this defeat behind him as he is still in the doubles title race.
My plan is to try to go as far as I can in doubles, you know. I'm still in the doubles tournament tomorrow with Verdasco, and I look forward to that. So, I'll stay in Doha at least for one more match, and then we see. I was planning to go to Indian Wells and Miami, so I'll talk with my team after I finish with this tournament.
Berrettini was obviously elated by his win.
It's something that I've been looking to do,” said the Italian who had lost his previous four meetings with Djokovic. I played against him in the most important tournaments on Tour, had the honour and the pleasure to play against him. I wish I could have won one of those matches as well.
In the second round at the newly upgraded ATP 500, Berrettini will face Tallon Griekspoor, who defeated the Italian in the first round in Rotterdam earlier this month.
