Tennis: Djokovic crashes out of Monte-Carlo Masters

Third seed Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Monte-Carlo Masters in Monaco on Wednesday, falling in straight sets to world No.32 Alejandro Tabilo.

The Serbian was priced at a short -666.67 to win by top tennis bookmakers, yet he only managed to win seven games in a surprisingly poor performance by the former world No.1.

Tabilo — who had only defeated three players ranked in the world’s top 20 ahead of Wednesday’s match — also beat Djokovic by a similar margin last year in their first meeting.

“It has been a tough year, so a little bit of the nerves were there,” Tabilo said after the 6-3, 6-4 victory.

“I remembered last time what I did well.

“Thankfully I served well today and it helped me a lot. It was an unreal match.”

Djokovic was well below his usual level — spraying 18 errors on his forehand in the space of an hour and 27 minutes — and afterwards issued an apology to those who came to watch his match.

“Sorry for all the people that have to witness this,” he said.

“Horrible feeling to play this way.

“I expected myself at least to have put a decent performance.

“Not like this. It was horrible.

“Look, I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way.

“I did not have high expectations, really.

“I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad.

“But this bad, I didn’t expect.”

The world No.5 has a track record of beginning his clay season slowly, but he still entered the tournament as second-favorite across tennis betting sites to win the title.

Market leader Carlos Alcaraz shortens even further now, paying just -111.11 at Nags.bet to win the event after he navigated his opening match on Wednesday.

The Spaniard looked to be in trouble early when Francisco Cerundolo claimed the opening set of their second-round match, but he steadied the ship brilliantly to win 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Alcaraz faces German qualifier Daniel Altmaier in the round of 16, where he is a -2000 favorite at Nags.bet to make his maiden quarter-final appearance in Monte-Carlo.

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