Djokovic lost to Botic van de Zandschulp, the Netherlands, who entered the tournament as a so-called lucky loser, i.e. after a player withdrawal at the last minute.
With the set scores, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1, he won over Djokovic, who thereby makes an immediate exit from the tournament, just like the top-seeded world number two Alexander Zverev, Germany.
No excuses for a poor performance. Congratulations to my opponent. A bad day at work, I guess, said the Serb about his performance.
Djokovic, who is now world number seven, has thereby been eliminated in the first round in two tournaments in a row after being forced to abandon the Australian Open semifinal due to injury.
