Making his first Indian Wells appearance since 2019, Novak Djokovic crashed to a Round of 32 defeat against Italy’s Luca Nardi, 4-6 6-3 3-6, on Tuesday. It was a huge win for the 20-year-old Nardi, who is also ranked No. 123, as he dropped his racket and brought his hands to his face almost in disbelief before greeting boyhood idol Djokovic at the net.
The Italian also became the lowest-ranked player to defeat Djokovic in a Grand Slam or ATP Masters 1000 level event, surpassing No. 122 Kevin Anderson in 2008 in Miami.
After Indian Wells, Djokovic was expected to participate at the Miami Masters, scheduled to begin on March 22. But now it looks like he won’t be playing in Miami, as reported by Serbian journalist Sasa Ozmo.
Djokovic did the same after losing to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semi-final, opting to skip tournaments in February and then returned to action at the Indian Wells.
Speaking in a press conference after his defeat, Djokovic said, “Yeah, for the moment, Miami is there, so let’s see. Let’s see, obviously 10 minutes ago I was on the court, so I’m still hot-headed a bit. I need to take a day or two and then see what I want to do next.”
Complimenting Nardi, he said, “He got in as a lucky loser’ to (the) main draw, so he really didn’t have anything to lose. So he played great. Deserved to win. I was more surprised with my level. My level was really, really bad.”
Meanwhile, Nardi said, “This is a miracle. I’m a 20-years-old guy, 100 in the world, and beating Novak. So, crazy. Crazy. Before this night, no one knew me. I hope now the crowd enjoyed the game. I’m super happy with this one.”
Nardi entered the draw as a lucky loser, which is a player who lost in the final qualifying hurdle, but made it to the main draw as a replacement for an injured player, who pulled out before the first round. At the Indian Wells, Nardi came in for Tomas Martin Etcheverry.