Djokovic: ‘Sorry for all the people that have to witness this’

Two-time champ reflects on straight-sets defeat

Much like his performance, Novak Djokovic was left feeling flat on Wednesday following his early exit at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Serbian lost to Alejandro Tabilo for the second time in a year on his return to clay.

“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible,” Djokovic said. “I did not have high expectations. I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.”

Djokovic was competing on clay for the first time since he won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in July. The Serbian admitted he did not expect his best level ahead of the match but was left frustrated by his below-par showing on Court Rainier III.

“I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know. [It was] just horrible,” said Djokovic, who committed 29 unforced errors in his 6-3, 6-4 defeat, falling to 0-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Tabilo. “A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”

Djokovic, a two-time champion in Monte-Carlo, is 12-6 on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. His best result came in Miami where he reached the title match, falling just short of winning his 100th tour-level title. The Belgrade native was stopped in the final by 19-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik.

The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings will next compete at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, where coach Andy Murray is expected to join.