This has not happened to Djokovic in 20 years

Photo: Patrick HAMILTON / AFP / Profimedia

Novak Djokovic was somewhat shockingly eliminated in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Brisbane, where on Friday he had to congratulate Reilly Opelka as the better man on the day!

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The American won in two sets (7-6, 6-3) and thus set some new terms in the history of tennis, because at the time of his victory over Novak, he was ranked 293rd in the world.

That kind of defeat has not happened to Novak in almost 20 years, as he last lost to an ATP player ranked under top 200 in April 2005 to Frenchman Nicolas Devilder in Monza (1-2 in sets).

At the time, Devilder was ranked 205th in the world.

As to losing a match by abandoning it, a little over 15 years ago Filip Krajinovic defeated Djokovic at the Serbia Open, while ranked 319th. That happened in the quarterfinals.

The last player ranked lower than Opelka who managed to defeat Novak was Melle van Gemerden. In 2004, in the first round of the ITF tournament in Hungary, Gemerden was ranked 549th and beat Djokovic 2-1 in sets.

(Telegraf.rs)