In Rome, Novak Djokovic has a shocking defeat with a bottle hitting him in the head

Two days after being struck in the head by a bottle, which he claimed caused nausea and dizziness, Novak Djokovic called Alejandro Tabilo’s shocking third-round exit from the Rome Open “concerning.”.

In less than an hour, Chilean Tabilo—ranked 32nd in the world—ended Djokovic’s attempt to capture a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 championship. Tabilo won 6-2, 6-3 to achieve his first victory against a top-10 opponent.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion speculated that the knock he took Friday night while mingling with fans may have contributed to his muted performance on a court where he owns six victories.

Wearing a bike crash helmet to training on Saturday morning, he had originally laughed off being hit on the head by a hard water bottle after his easy victory against Corentin Moutet in the second round.

To tell the truth, I have no idea. I need to investigate it. Training was not the same. Yesterday, I had a rather simple training session. Djokovic said to reporters, “I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same.”

“Under extreme stress today, it was very awful—not in terms of pain, but in terms of this equilibrium. Simply put, it was not coordinated. The player has completely changed from two nights ago.

In addition, Djokovic said that he will have scans to “see what’s going on” before to the French Open in Paris, where he would be concerned about both his form and the fallout from the bottle incident.

“Different participant”

When Djokovic’s first victory of the season occurred at Wimbledon in 2018, it was the last time he entered Roland Garros empty-handed.

“Everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win” a 25th Grand Slam, Djokovic said, with the French Open, where he is the reigning champion, starting in two weeks.

“It felt like a whole new player stepped into my shoes on the court today,” Djokovic said. “That raises some concerns.”

With Djokovic out of the picture early, the last big men’s event before Roland Garros is now open to everybody, with third seed Alexander Zverev defeating local favorite and 54th-ranked Luciano Darderi 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

After dominating his legendary opponent, Tabilo produced a stunning comeback to win the greatest match of his career. He struck 22 winners, committed only four unintentional mistakes, and avoided facing a single break point.

“To be honest, I didn’t think for a second that I could win this,” said a jubilant Tabilo.

“I was having a fantastic tennis match. I just wanted to maintain that level. I tried not to focus on the score for the whole match, instead attempting to play it point by point. Every point seemed like the opening exchange of the game.

Svitolina vs. Sabalenka

After both players easily advanced to the women’s last 16, Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina will square off for the first time since their handshake incident at the French Open last year.

The second-seeded Sabalenka defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 6-2 to go to the next round and face Svitolina, the two-time Foro Italico champion who defeated Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3.

Following her victory against Ukrainian Svitolina in the Roland Garros quarterfinals in 2023, Belarusian Sabalenka was accused by Svitolina of inciting tensions around the Russia-Ukraine conflict by standing and waiting for a handshake at the net.

Since all Ukrainian players declined to shake hands with their competitors from Belarus and Russia in protest of the continuing conflict, Svitolina had previously said she would not be making an offer.

Although Sabalenka has never won in Rome, she has won twice on the Madrid clay, and she seems to be in strong enough form to at least replicate her 2022 run to the semifinals.

Earlier, 80th-ranked Egyptian Mayar Sherif was defeated 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 by fifth seed Maria Sakkari, setting up a potential matchup with Victoria Azarenka in the last 16.