“Sorry for all the people that had to witness this”: Novak Djokovic apologises for 'horrible' display at Monte-Carlo Masters

Novak Djokovic issued an apology following his 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Alejandro Tabilo at the Monte-Carlo Masters. The 24-time Grand Slam champion suffered yet another loss to the Chilean, bringing back memories of last year’s Italian Open nightmare and casting fresh doubts over his form.

Over the past year, Djokovic has struggled to meet expectations, having not won an ATP title since the 2023 ATP Finals. He entered Monte-Carlo with improved feelings after a solid run to the final in Miami, where he eventually fell to 19-year-old Jakub Mensik.

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Switching to clay is always a tricky adjustment, though typically a player of Djokovic’s calibre adapts swiftly. This was his first match on clay since winning Olympic gold in Paris 2024 – defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the final – but his performance fell well short of expectations.

Djokovic committed 29 unforced errors and was outplayed by Tabilo in nearly every stat. He landed just 54% of his first serves, winning 67% of those points, and won only 46% of his second serves. In contrast, Tabilo hit 63% of first serves in, winning 81% of those points and 55% on his second serve.

Tabilo beat Djokovic for the second time on clay-courts. A year earlier he surprised him in the Italian Open third round.

“I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know. [It was] just horrible,” Djokovic admitted during the post-match press conference. “A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that had to witness this.”

“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this, it was horrible,” he added. “I didn’t have high expectations really, I knew I was going to have a tough opponent and I knew I was probably going to play pretty bad, but this bad, I didn’t expect it,” Djokovic concluded before swiftly leaving the room.

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Djokovic will now have a couple of weeks to recover from the tough loss, with his return set for the Madrid Open starting April 21, where he’ll be seeded fourth and hoping to turn around a disappointing clay-court swing.

As for Tabilo, he now faces Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated fellow countryman Nicolas Jarry and local wildcard Valentin Vacherot on his way to the next round.

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