Novak Djokovic\u2019s opening match loss at the 2025 Madrid Open has drawn a reaction from two tennis coaching legends.<\/p>\n
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was\u00a0upset 6-3, 6-4 by 44th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi in\u00a0Estadio Manolo Santana in the second round of the Masters event.<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a>\u00a0made 32 unforced errors and was uncharacteristically poor in the pressure moments against the impressive 24-year-old Italian.<\/p>\n The world No 5 failed to save any of the three break points he faced, while he converted just one of the five break opportunities he created on the Italian\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n The Serbian double faulted twice in a row to hand Arnaldi a service break in a crucial game when serving at 3-4 in the opening set.<\/p>\n When trailing 3-4 in the second set, Djokovic was unable to capitalise on a huge chance he had to break back at 0-40 on Arnaldi\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n Brad Gilbert, a former coach of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Coco Gauff,\u00a0commented on X that it was \u201cstrange\u201d to see Djokovic \u201ctrying to play so big and slap winners, especially on clay.\u201d<\/p>\n The American, who was ranked as high as fourth during his playing days, then posted: \u201cFather Time undefeated\u201d, in reference to Djokovic.<\/p>\n Rick Macci, who has coached a host of future world No 1s \u2014 including both Serena and Venus Williams \u2014 also weighed in.<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter what he is still the JOKER,\u201d the 70-year-old American wrote on X.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you can see the confidence on the dirt is not there and that affects the movement to play offense and defense from anywhere.<\/p>\n \u2018I worry the motivation is gone\u2019 \u2013 Novak Djokovic given concerning verdict after Madrid Open upset<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Novak Djokovic admits it \u2018could be\u2019 his last Madrid Masters appearance after stunning upset<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe needs a lot more matches on the Clay to prepare for the French the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic is on a three-match winless streak as his defeat to Arnaldi followed losses to Alejandro Tabilo in Monte Carlo and Jakub Mensik in Miami in his previous two matches. The 37-year-old lost all three of these matches in straight sets.<\/p>\n After his Madrid exit, Djokovic admitted his expectations for the tournament had been low \u2014 something he also said before his Monte Carlo campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI was hoping I can play one more match than I played in Monte Carlo,\u201d the tennis great told the media. \u201cKind of new reality for me, I have to say. You know, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a completely different feeling from what I had in 20-plus years of professional tennis, so it\u2019s kind of a challenge for me mentally to really face these kind of sensations on the court, going out early now regularly in the tournaments.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, you know, that\u2019s, I guess, the circle of life and the career (smiling), eventually it was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic will look to bounce back from his brutal start to the clay season at the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome next month.<\/p>\n READ NEXT:\u00a0Dominic Thiem rates Alexander Zverev\u2019s Grand Slam hopes as he names French Open favourites<\/a> The post Brad Gilbert and Rick Macci share honest takes on Novak Djokovic \u2013 \u2018Father Time undefeated\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic\u2019s opening match loss at the 2025 Madrid Open has drawn a reaction from two tennis coaching legends. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was\u00a0upset 6-3, 6-4 by 44th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi in\u00a0Estadio Manolo Santana in the second round of the Masters event. Djokovic\u00a0made 32 unforced errors and was uncharacteristically poor in the pressure moments against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Novak Djokovic News<\/h2>\n
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