Novak Djokovic was unsure if he wanted to come back already in Indian Wells after his little surgery in February or wait for Miami. Eventually, the Serbian decided to give it a try in California, but he was definitely not up to his standards to lose 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-1 from the world no.109 Taro Daniel.

The Match

Djokovic was leading the Japanese 4-1 without any problems in the opener when he started to lose his rhythm and commit a lot of unforced errors. Eventually, the former world no.1 lost the opener at the breaker, but Nole bounced back in the second set to win 6-4. Finally, the Serbian crumbled entirely in the third set to lose the contest 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-1.

I could not find the rhythm. DJOKOVIC

Nole explained what happened soon after the match to comment

“Very weird; I just completely lost rhythm. Yeah, everything, nerves were there.

I made so many unforced errors that it was just one of those days where you are not able to find the rhythm from the baseline, especially from the backhand side.

That has always been a rock solid shot for me throughout my career. Just some inexplicable, uncharacteristic errors, but that’s I guess all part of those particular circumstances that I’m in at the moment.”

Next step is Miami, but will ever Nole recover from his elbow injury?