Unbalanced, Uncoordinated Novak Djokovic Falls To Tabilo In Rome Shocked, Will Seek Medical Answers

Two days after getting hitting the head by an errant water bottle, Novak Djokovic was all out of sorts Sunday in a shock 6-2, 6-3 loss to Alejandro Tabilo in the third round of the Rome Masters.

The 6-time champion was off balanced for much of the match and looked far from his best. The Serb double faulted to give the first set and then double faulted again to give the Chilean the match. Djokovic was broken four times and never even got a break point on the lefty who did control the match with his big forehand.

Afterward, Djokovic admitted something was off and it may be related to the water bottle incident.

“I don’t know to be honest, I have to check that,” Djokovic said. “Because I felt yesterday training was different, I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything but I also didn’t feel the same.

“Today under high stress it was quite bad, not in terms of pain but just in terms of dis-balance. Just no coordination. Just completely different player from what I was two nights ago.

“Could be. I don’t know. I have to do medical checkups and see what’s going on.”

Djokovic spoke about the aftermath. He said he experienced nausea and dizziness.

“It was a very unfortunate, unlucky situation for me,” Djokovic said. “It was an accident where that guy leaned over the fence and the bottle dropped from his rucksack and landed directly on my head.

“It was unexpected obviously, I wasn’t even looking up. Then I felt a very strong hit in the head. That really impacted me a lot. After that I got the medical care. Been through half an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood and a lot of different things.

“I managed to sleep okay. I had headaches. But the next day or yesterday was pretty fine, so I thought it’s okay. But maybe it is okay. Maybe it’s not. The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot. So it’s a bit concerning.”

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