Novak Djokovic suffered a shocking third-round defeat against Luca Nardi at the Indian Wells 2024 which forced the Serb to think about his participation in the upcoming Miami Open.
Djokovic struggled from the very first set and even though he managed to come back in the game by winning the second one, he fell short again and suffered a defeat in the third, eventually ending up losing the match 4-6, 6-3, 3-6.
The loss blew Djokovic’s hopes of becoming the player with the most Indian Wells titles, overtaking the legendary Roger Federer who has five to his name.
Talking after the match, “hot-headed” Djokovic cast doubts on his participation in the Miami Open, a tournament he has clinched six times from 2007 to 2016.
"Let's see, obviously 10 minutes ago I was on the court, so I'm still hot-headed a bit. I need to take a day or two and then see what I want to do next," he said.
The Serb then went on to explain that he has been very “selective” in his tournaments now which is why suffering an early exit at Indian Wells hurts him on a great level.
"I do play fewer tournaments, so I'm more selective with my schedule. So of course, it's not a great feeling when you, you know, drop out very early in the tournament, and especially here, I haven't played for five years. I really wanted to do well. But wasn't meant to be. We move on," he added.
Nardi came in as a lucky loser and went on to upset the world no.1, the Italian stated that no one knew him before this match.
"Before this night no-one knew me," Nardi said in an on-court interview after his win. "I hope the crowd enjoyed the game; I'm super happy with this one."
Questioned about how he registered the biggest win of his career, Nardi replied: "I don't know. I think it really is a miracle. I'm a guy ranked outside the top 100 in the world and now I'm beating Novak -- crazy, crazy."