Tue, May 14, 2024 page7

• Serbia’s Djokovic to undergo scans as shock Rome exit follows bottle drama

  • AFP, ROME
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  Novak Djokovic on Sunday described his shock third-round elimination from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia by Alejandro Tabilo as “concerning,” two days after he was hit on the head by a bottle, which he said has caused nausea and dizzy spells.

  Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 title was ended in just more than an hour by Chilean Tabilo, who is ranked 32nd in the world and claimed his first win over a top-10 opponent, 6-2, 6-3.

  The 24-time Grand Slam winner said that his subdued performance on a court where he has won six titles might have been due to the blow suffered while greeting fans on Friday night.

  

  Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo celebrates after beating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in their men’s singles match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  He had initially laughed off being accidentally struck on the head by a hard water bottle following his straightforward second-round win over Corentin Moutet, by wearing a cycling crash helmet to training on Saturday morning.

  “I don’t know, to be honest. I have to check that. Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same,” Djokovic told reporters. “Today under high stress, it was quite bad — not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago.”

  Djokovic also said that he would have scans to “see what’s going on” before the French Open in Paris.

  The last time Djokovic got to Roland Garros without a title to his name that season was in 2018, when his first honor of the campaign came at Wimbledon.

  With the French Open, where his is the defending champion, to start in two weeks, Djokovic said that “everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win” a 25th Grand Slam.

  “The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes,” he added. “It’s a bit concerning.”

  Djokovic’s early elimination means that the last major men’s tournament before Roland Garros is wide open, with third seed Alexander Zverev beating home hope Luciano Darderi, ranked 54th in the world, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

  Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka beat Dayana Yastremska, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a clash in the next round with Elina Svitolina for the first time since their handshake row at last year’s French Open. Svitolina, a two-time winner at the Foro Italico, comfortably beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3.

  Svitolina accused Belarusian Sabalenka of inflaming tensions surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war for waiting at the net for a handshake after beating Ukrainian Svitolina in the Roland Garros quarter-finals last year.

  Svitolina had already said that she was not going to offer one, as all Ukrainian players refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals in protest at the ongoing war.

  Earlier, fifth seed Maria Sakkari lined up a probable last-16 clash with Victoria Azarenka, who beat 80th-ranked Egyptian Mayar Sherif 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.

  In women’s doubles, top seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Elise Mertens of Belgium beat Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 in the round-of-16.

  Meanwhile, ninth seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia gifted China’s Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai a walkover.

  Additional reporting by staff writer
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