As in Monte-Carlo a week earlier, Novak Djokovic will not play a third match in Banja Luka (Bosnia). The world number 1 was surprised in two sets (6-4, 7-6) by his compatriot Dusan Lajovic in the quarter-finals. Another worrying premature elimination for the Serb.
All the spotlight will be on Novak Djokovic next week in Madrid. After two tournaments on clay, the world number 1 indeed seems to have all the trouble in the world to find his bearings on a surface which is certainly not his favorite but which he nevertheless likes. This is evidenced by his new premature exit from the track, this Friday in Banja Luka. Like a week earlier in Monte-Carlo, the Serb, who had preferred to continue his preparation for Roland-Garros in Bosnia rather than in Barcelona or Munich, will not play a third match.
Exempted from the first round as the tournament’s number 1 seed, he fell from a very high position on Friday in the quarter-finals against his compatriot Dusan Lajovic, 70th in the standings and winner in two sets (6-4, 7-6) . The latter caused a small earthquake by knocking down the huge favourite, just as the Italian Lorenzo Musetti had also taken advantage of the “GOAT’s” adaptation problems to the ground by already playing a nasty trick on him Principality.
A story to tell for a lifetime 🙌
The moment @Dutzee defeated World No.1 Novak Djokovic in Banja Luka. #SrpskaOpen pic.twitter.com/7F13gC5jHk
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) April 21, 2023
Already against Van Assche…
Despite three set points in the decisive game to pick up a set everywhere against this player ranked at the height of his career in the top 25 in the world (23rd), Djokovic bit the dust. Quickly broken in this part when he showed himself unable to convert more than one break point out of the sixteen he got in this part, the man with 22 Grand Slam crowns had already been only a shadow of himself in the first run. On arrival, Lajovic’s success is anything but undeserved. Djokovic, against Luca Van Assche already, had displayed unusual signs of excitement at home. He nevertheless got away with it against the young Frenchman. This was not the case on Friday against the Serb. In the Djokovic clan, which has also given the feeling of suffering a lot physically at times, concern is in order before Madrid.
