“I’m trying to wake up right now,” Alejandro Tabilo surprises himself as he gets past Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-3 in Rome Masters

After the match, the World No. 32 admitted that he had no idea he would end up winning the match. 

“I’m trying to wake up right now,” Alejandro Tabilo surprises himself as he gets past Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-3 in Rome Masters

Novak Djokovic and Alejandro Tabilo (Images via Imago)

Novak Djokovic will have to wait for another event to lift his first title of the season as he lost to 29th seed Alejandro Tabilo in the third round of the Rome Masters on Sunday (May 12). After losing the first set, Djokovic failed to recover, eventually losing with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-3 in just 68 minutes. 

With this victory, the Chilean secured the biggest win of his career. Playing his first match against the Serb, Tabilo did not face a single break point, and he did not allow Djokovic to accelerate, capitalizing on the lead to secure the victory. After the match, the World No. 32 admitted that he had no idea he would end up winning the match. 

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It’s incredible. I went to court just looking around, trying to soak it all in and trying to process everything. I’m just trying to wake up right now.
Alejandro Tabilo said after the match 

Djokovic missed the last two clay-court events in Barcelona and Madrid and knocked out France’s Corentin Moutet in the first round of the Rome Masters. 

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Alejandro Tabilo said he was trying to process the feeling of beating Novak Djokovic 

Last week, Alejandro Tabilo won a Challenger event on clay and also reached the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. He started this season by securing his first ever ATP Tour trophy at the ASB Classic by beating Taro Daniel. 

Novak Djokovic
Alejandro Tabilo, Novak Djokovic (Image via Imago)

The 26-year-old then reached another final at the Chile Open but couldn’t lift the title in front of his home crowd, losing to Sebastian Baez in three sets. He is now 17-9 for the season and will face Karen Khachanov in the fourth set scheduled on May 14. 

After the match, he thanked his family and said he was trying to process the victory over Novak Djokovic. 

They (family) basically sent me in [to the match] with, ‘You’ve done a great job, it’s unbelievable that you’ve got this far’. So I don’t think anybody can believe it. I’m still trying to process everything, so it’s a crazy feeling.
Alejandro Tabilo said 

In his first-round match against Corentin, Djokovic was hit by a bottle, and he admitted after losing to Tabilo that the defeat had something to do with the bottle incident. 

This defeat raised doubts over his French Open participation, which gets underway on May 20. The 24-time Grand Slam champion has played just four tournaments (the Australian Open, Indian Wells Master, Monte-Carlo Masters, and the Italian Open), losing in all without lifting a trophy. 

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