Novak Djokovic crashes out of Italian Open, saying he was ‘completely wrong’ after bottle incident against Alejandro Tabilo

“To be honest, I just couldn’t feel good on the pitch when hitting the ball. I was completely wrong,” said Djokovic.

The 36-year-old is a six-time champion in Rome and won his opening round match at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Corentin Moutet. However, he was accidentally hit by a falling water bottle while signing autographs on Friday evening.

The world No. 1 was asked if he felt the incident affected him in his first ATP Head2Head meeting against Tabilo.

“To be honest, I don’t know. I have to check that. The training was different. Yesterday I wanted to do (an) easy workout. I didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t feel the same either.” “Today under high pressure it was pretty bad – not in terms of the pain, but in terms of that balance,” Djokovic said.

“Completely different player than two nights ago. Could be. I don’t know it. I need to get a medical checkup and see what’s going on,” he added.

What’s notable is that Djokovic had never faced Tabilo before and the left-hander was constantly causing problems for the No. 1 player in the ATP rankings with his heavy forehand.

The 98-time Tour titleholder was full of praise for the 26-year-old, who lifted his first Tour trophy in Auckland at the start of the season.

“Congratulations to my opponent. It’s the first time I’m competing against him. Great player. Really good player. All-round game,” said Djokovic.

Djokovic said he needed to improve “everything” if he had a chance of winning his 25th major title at Roland Garros. He is 12-5 this season, his best result being a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, Tabilo reached the fourth round of a Masters 1000 event for the second time, having reached that stage in Indian Wells in 2023. The Chilean’s next opponent in Rome will be the number 16 seed Karen Khachanovwho defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6:2, 6:4.

“I just tried to keep my nerve and keep swinging,” Tabilo said after beating Djokovic.

“Every time you feel like you’re getting closer to the end, of course your arms get a little tighter and you start swinging shorter, so I just tried not to think about it and take it point by point. It’s crazy, I can’t believe what just happened,” he added.