Novak Djokovic’s anticipate a one centesimal profession ATP Tour title continues after his aggressive return was lower brief with a shock first-round exit on the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Djokovic, making his first look since a leg harm compelled him to retire from his Australian Open semi-final, was crushed 7-6 (4) 6-2 by Italian Matteo Berrettini within the final 32 on Tuesday.
Berretini got here by way of a one-sided tie-break to say the opening set after which dominated the second, breaking Djokovic twice on his solution to a primary victory over a top-10 opponent since January 2023.
Djokovic’s defeat is his first opening-round loss because the 2022 ATP Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo and a primary profession defeat towards Berretini, who will now face Tallon Griekspoor within the subsequent spherical.
“I worked really hard to be back here, to be back at this level,” stated Berretini, who was voted ATP’s Comeback Participant of the Yr in 2024 after a six-month harm lay-off. “I knew my degree was excessive. I simply wanted matches and matches like this.
“All the hard work that I’ve been putting in the last months, in the last days, it worked pretty well today. So I’m really happy with my performance. I’m really happy because I enjoyed my time out there, which is the most important thing.”
Second seed Alex de Minaur defeated Roman Safiullin 6-1 7-5 to achieve the second spherical, his two hundredth hard-court win, with the Australian subsequent taking part in qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp within the newly upgraded ATP 500 event.
Andrey Rublev eased previous Alexander Bublik in straight units, retaining him on track for a possible quarter-final towards De Minaur, whereas Daniil Medvedev claimed his first win over a top-30 opponent this yr after defeating defending champion Karen Khachanov.
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Highlights of the Qatar Open Championship match between Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev.
Murray to stick with Djokovic “indefinitely”
Djokovic will proceed to work with coach Andy Murray “indefinitely” as the 2 put together to work collectively throughout the North American Swing and the European clay-court season.
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Djokovic stated he is glad Andy Murray agreed to increase his teaching position with the Serbian and admits it is thrilling for the tennis world
Murray is now poised to work with the Serb at Indian Wells and Miami in March after which throughout the clay-court portion of the yr, which culminates on the French Open from Could 25 to June 8.
Djokovic advised the ATP Tour’s in-house media channel: “We had a chat the day after I finished [the Australian Open] – we reflected on the period we spent together.
“We agreed he was going to take a while and suppose, converse along with his relations and see if he decides to maintain working. I expressed my need to proceed the collaboration with him so I’m actually glad he did settle for.
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Djokovic stated nearly all of the gamers he has spoken to really feel the lenient ban Jannik Sinner obtained for a optimistic medicine take a look at is unfair and believes there’s favouritism for the larger names within the sport
“It is indefinite in terms of how long we are going to work together, but we agreed most likely in the States and some clay-court tournaments. We will see how it goes after that.”
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