The world’s No1 player Novak Djokovic was surprisingly knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters by the 55th-ranked Czech Jiri Vesely.
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It was Djokovic’s earliest loss at a tournament for three years and only his second of 2016 after an eye infection had forced his retirement against Feliciano Lopez in Dubai.
“There is the proof that nobody is unbeatable”, the Serb said.
The world No. 1 failed to cope in his opening match of the clay-court tournament against a man who had never beaten a top-10 player. When he was a break up in the third set, he was playing bravely, coming in, drop-shots, big serves. “He was going for it and he deserved to have it”.
The reigning champion had not lost in 22 Masters 1000 matches since going down in the 2015 Cincinnati final and had won his last 14 matches on the ATP circuit heading into this week.
Djokovic was a million miles away from his imperious best on his first appearance on clay this year, struggling to find his range, bar a run of four straight games to see out the second set.
“It’s something awesome. When I went on court, I had completely different thinking”, Vesely said. So for me it’s just something that I can’t believe really happened. Novak just stopped missing, and I did a lot of easy mistakes. “I wasn’t feeling any freshness”. I think he played very solid. “For me, it’s definitely a dream come true”. “I have to move on, it’s already behind me”. But it’s like that. “I need time to kind of recharge”.
Nadal, the fifth-seeded Roland Garros king, emerged a 6-3, 6-3 victor over Briton Aljaz Bedene.
It was a creditable performance from the British No 2 in the second round, but he held serve only four times.
Nadal remains a formidable opponent and it was ultimately a comfortable win for the Spaniard in his first match of the season on European
clay.
“He has a great serve and a great forehand”, Nadal said of Thiem.
Wawrinka improved his head-to-head record against Kohlschreiber to 4-0 with a dominant display, save for a slight wobble in the second set, beating the German 7-6 (7-2) 7-5.
He lost 6-4 2-6 6-4 in what was the pair’s first ever match.
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Murray continues his singles campaign today with a third-round contest against Frenchman Benoit Paire.
