A bicycle wheel to conclude: even in his worst nightmares, Novak Djokovic had never imagined such an outcome in “his” Belgrade tournament.
The world No. 1 lost 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 6-0 to Andrey Rublev (ATP 8) in the final of this ATP 250 tournament, of which his younger brother Djorde is the director. His 4th match in three sets of the week was one too many. After missing two break points in the 1st game, Novak Djokovic hardly put a ball in the court to leave the field open to the Russian, again betrayed by his physique like two weeks earlier in Monte Carlo against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Still no title in 2022
Novak Djokovic is thus still looking for his first title in 2022. Beaten in the semi-finals in Dubai, from the outset in Monte-Carlo and of course a finalist in Belgrade, he has a week ahead of him to prepare for the Masters 1000 from Madrid.
ats/tzing