Almost no one expected that Novak Djokovic's run at Indian Wells would end as early as the second round. It is true that the former world number 1 had never shone in California in recent years and was defeated by Luca Nardi in the last edition, but this time he seemed more ready and motivated to try to lift his sixth trophy here.
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Despite Andy Murray's support in his garage and positive feelings during practice sessions in the previous days, the Serbian legend delivered a truly horrible performance against Botic van de Zandschulp on Saturday.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion never found the right rhythm and struggled to control rebounds, ending up committing 37 unforced errors and allowing his opponent to get another prestigious victory after those against Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 US Open and against Rafael Nadal at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
At the end of the match, the current world number 7 was very disappointed with his performance and admitted all his difficulties at this stage of his career.
Tursunov on Nole's poor performance
The situation has changed a lot for Nole in the last year and a half, which alternates some good tournaments with performances that are really far from its standards.
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In addition, the dream of winning the 100th title of his legendary career is turning into a small curse.
During an interview with 'Championat', former world number 20 Dmitry Tursunov commented on Novak's shocking elimination at Indian Wells: "I think everyone has understood that Djokovic is really very far from his best shape right now. What struck me the most is how much Nole struggled with his serve, I think he didn't make a single ace in the whole match against Van de Zandschulp.
This is a very significant warning sign. In addition, the Serbian has only obtained 63% of the points with the first serve. That's too low a percentage for a player of his caliber.
As if that were not enough, Novak won just 29% of the points with the second serve.
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You can't win a match on the men's tour with these numbers."
