Novak Djokovic must continue his search for a 100th ATP Tour title away from Indian Wells, having lost his opening match in California.
Djokovic struggled with the bounce against Botic van de Zandschulp, with the latter beating the former 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Van de Zandschulp, ranked 85th in the world, clinched similar upsets against Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal last year.
And he now finds himself in the third round of Indian Wells 2025, having only reached the main draw via a lucky loser route after being knocked out in qualifying.
But the 29-year-old recovered to defeat Nick Kyrgios in round one, although the Australian was forced to retire hurt.
CoCo Vandeweghe says Novak Djokovic was ‘too smiley’ after Indian Wells loss
The Dutchman now takes on Francisco Cerundolo in round three, while Djokovic has been criticised by former player CoCo Vandeweghe for his post-match reaction.
“I think we’ve got to give Botic some credit,” she said on Tennis Channel. “I think he showed up, he played big ball, and you’ve got to give the man credit where credit’s due.
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“But I do think that… is this Novak getting too comfortable with ‘I’m okay with losing?’ And it’s a weird feeling as a player when you have a couple of losses like that, where you see him in the press room, he’s a little bit too smiley, and you’ve got to think is he not as mentally tough as he once was?
“And you’ve just got to question that a little bit. I still think you can’t count out the GOAT in any tournament, in any situation, but I do question are we getting a little bit too comfortable with these guys beating you in these 1000 events?
“Because we know Novak is looking at Slams, but are we getting a little bit too comfortable, and maybe that will happen at a Slam?”
Novak Djokovic heading for uncertain future after shock Indian Wells exit
Djokovic entered Indian Wells out of form, having lost his opener at the Qatar Open to Matteo Berrettini, while his doubles run with Fernando Verdasco ended in the quarter-finals.
But that followed a fine run at the Australian Open, where he reached the semi-finals before being forced to retire hurt against Alexander Zverev.
READ MORE: Novak Djokovic equals Rafael Nadal record despite shock Indian Wells loss to Botic van de Zandschulp
Djokovic currently occupies first place in the men’s all-time Grand Slam titles list with 24, but watched Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz dominate the major season in 2024.
The Serbian did, however, clinch an Olympic gold medal, and remains inside the ATP Tour top 10 in seventh place.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the 37-year-old, who looks set to try and recover from his latest setback at the Miami Open later this month.
He joins Andre Agassi for the most titles at the tournament with six, with his success including three consecutive wins from 2014 to 2016.
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