Novak Djokovic lost in his first match at the 2025 Indian Wells Open, and he wasn’t in a mood to find excuses after his loss.
The Serbian player took on a lucky loser in his first match in Indian Wells. He played against a lucky loser last year as well, and like in 2024, Djokovic shockingly lost. This time, the player who beat him was Botic van de Zandschulp.
The Dutch player recorded some big wins in recent months, having beaten both Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal last year. He added another big name to the list of players that he managed to beat, and Djokovic was very honest about what happened on the tennis court.
Of course, Djokovic is not used to losing. In fact, the last time he lost three matches in a row, like he did now, was in 2018. Back then his streak included a loss from Indian Wells as well.
Therefore, it’s not a surprise that one of the questions that the 37-year-old received after the loss was what went wrong or what made him struggle on the court so much. In particular, he was asked about wind and his stomach.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was honest, saying that there are always some challenges that tennis players have to face. At the same time, he didn’t want to find any excuses for his loss.
“I mean, it’s always something happening, but I don’t want to talk about it. I mean, obviously no excuses for a poor performance. Just it doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court, but congratulations to my opponent.”
One struggle that Rafael Nadal had in the final days of his tennis career was not being able to produce in matches like he did on the practice court.
That might start becoming a trouble for Djokovic as well. He admitted that he wasn’t able to play as well as he did during his practice sessions in Indian Wells.
“You know, just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me. I regret the level of tennis, considering how I practice these days.”
Djokovic also spoke about the surface change in Indian Wells. That has been one of the most discussed topics this year. Some players find the courts slower than the last year, some find them faster, while others find them the same.
The five-time Indian Wells Open champion didn’t have a problem with the change in particular, but he felt like the difference between the center court and the other courts was very big.
“To be honest, the difference between the center court and the other courts is immense. The ball is bouncing on the center courts higher than some of the highest clay courts, to be honest. Yeah, just struggled a lot with that. Couldn’t find the rhythm.”
