Alejandro Tabilo picks out the shot from his game that helped him beat Novak Djokovic at the Monte-Carlo Masters

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Novak Djokovic was looking for another strong Masters 1000 outing in 2025.

24-time Major champion Djokovic reached the Miami Open final last month, losing out to Czech youngster Jakub Mensik in straight sets, 6-7, 6-7.

Traveling to Europe for the clay court season, the Serb hoped to kick off his campaign with a big win at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Producing a sub-par performance in his opening match against Alejandro Tabilo, the 37-year-old failed to advance to the third round.

The Chilean, unsurprisingly delighted with his victory over Djokovic, now names the shot from his game that helped him secure a second career top-ten win

Alejandro Tabilo says he ‘served well’ during his win over Novak Djokovic in Monte-Carlo

Tabilo beat Djokovic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the third round in the principality.

During his on-court interview, the 27-year-old explained what he did well in his second round win over Djokovic.

“It’s been a tough year so a lot of nerves were there, just tried to remember last time what I did well,” said Tabilo.

“Thank god I served well today.

“It helped me a lot to regroup my game after that first game, and it was an unreal match.”

Djokovic broke Tabilo in the opening game of the match, but couldn’t retain the advantage for long as Tabilo broke straight back before charging to victory.

The world number 32’s serve was firing on all cylinders against Djokovic, as Tabilo won an impressive 81% of his points behind the first serve.

Tabilo then explained how he is feeling now, having struggled for form during the early stages of the 2025 ATP season.

“It’s just been some tough times, personal, but I mean we’ve been trying to take care of it, match by match I’ve been getting a little bit looser so just happy now that I’m feeling better,” he said.

The Chilean lost his first six matches of the year before picking up his first win of 2025 at Indian Wells.

Tabilo’s win over Djokovic saw him improve his ATP record to 4-9 in 2025.

Alejandro Tabilo joins exclusive club with Rafael Nadal after beating Novak Djokovic again

Few players can say they’ve beaten Djokovic, but even fewer can say that they have beaten him twice.

Tabilo took down Djokovic in their one previous meeting at the Italian Open last year in straight sets, and now leads the head-to-head with the Serb, 2-0.

The 27-year-old is now one of just two players to hold a winning head-to-head record against Djokovic on clay courts, having played him multiple times.

• Rafael Nadal – (20-9)
• Alejandro Tabilo – (2-0)

Spanish legend Rafael Nadal dominated Djokovic on the clay during their time on tour, winning 20 of their 29 encounters.

Joining Nadal in leading Djokovic in the clay head-to-head, perhaps Tabilo will take some inspiration from the 11-time Monte-Carlo Masters champion as he looks ahead to his third round match.

Tabilo will play Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the Monte-Carlo quarterfinals on Thursday, April 10.