Novak Djokovic played like a mortal in Indian Wells loss—and sounded like one afterwards

What was the biggest stunner of Novak Djokovic’s Saturday in Indian Wells?

There was, first and foremost, his three-set loss to 85th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp. That may sound like a shocking result to the casual fan, but anyone who follows the sport week to week knew it was a possibility.

Djokovic was playing just his second match since the Australian Open. At his last event, in Doha, he lost his opening match to Matteo Berrettini. And van de Zandschulp is a quality player who, with wins over Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal last year, has earned a reputation as a giant slayer. He’s deceptively quick for someone 6-foot-3, he plays a somewhat similar game to Djokovic’s, and he’s eight years younger.

It was hardly surprising that Djokovic was rusty. That he started slowly. That he missed the skill shots—half-volleys, lobs, drops—that don’t always come back right away. That his timing wasn’t sharp on his return. That the wind, the sun, and the transition from the practice court to the stadium court, affected him more than they normally would. That he may have had physical issues that remained unnamed.

Even the fact that he was breathing hard after a rally in the third set was somewhat understandable, despite his legendary level of fitness. And, of course, the animated discussions with his team about what to drink on the sidelines are all part of the Djokovic Theater that we’ve been attending for two decades now. (Though I will say that the sight of Djokovic with his baseball cap pulled sideways—to block the sun—was new to me.)

“I regret the level of tennis, considering how I practice these days,” Djokovic said. “To be honest, the difference between the center court and the other courts is immense. Ball is bouncing on the center courts higher than some of the highest clay courts.

“Yeah, just struggled a lot with that. Couldn't find the rhythm.”

But there were individual moments and aspects of the match that were more surprising, and concerning.

There was the fact that he turned the match around in the second set, gave the crowd one of his traditional war-cry first pumps ... and then squandered the momentum right away in a puzzling sequence at the start of the third.

On one crucial point at that stage, Djokovic tried a floating cross-court drop shot from behind the baseline, while backing away. It landed well into the alley, and he walked to the changeover hanging his head. In the next game, van de Zandschulp hoisted up a topspin lob that landed five feet inside the baseline, but Djokovic simply turned around and watched it, without making a move. By then, even his fury was muted; after slamming a ball too close to a ball boy in the second set, he mostly opted for wry smiles of frustration in the third.

Djokovic hit 15 winners, made 37 unforced errors, and won just seven of those 24 points on his second serve. Van de Zandschulp had his way in the neutral rallies. Does any of this have to do with a new, possibly more conservative approach that his coach, Andy Murray, has recommended? We’ll need to see more from them before making that judgment.

I regret the level of tennis, considering how I practice these days. Novak Djokovic

While none of what happened on court is standard for Djokovic, the bigger surprise to me was how he sounded in the interview room afterward. This is a man who has always said that he “puts no limits” on himself. This time, positivity and big-picture perspective were hard to come by. Asked whether he could find consolation in his past achievements on a day like this, he said:

“Things are different, obviously, for me the last couple of years. I’ve been struggling to play on the desired level. Every now and then, I have a couple of good tournaments, but, you know, mostly it’s really a challenge. It’s a struggle for me.”

There was an unvarnished truth-telling to this comment that was different from his heyday. There was a little more resignation about the affects of aging and injury than I’ve heard from him in the past.

Of course, it’s only natural that he would feel this way after going more than a year without an ATP title. If he said anything else, we’d think he was in denial about the state of his career.

But if it was a surprise to see Djokovic play like a mortal, it was a shock, even at 37, to hear him sound like one.