‘Tough to watch’: Novak Djokovic hits sad new low as he loses three straight matches

Tennis great Novak Djokovic’s career continues to take a sad turn, with the Serbian’s age appearing to be taking a serious toll on his game.

Novak Djokovic has lost three matches in a row for the first time in seven years, with the tennis great’s career appearing to be growing ever closer to the end.

On Sunday (AEDT) the 24-time grand slam champion crashed out of Indian Wells in three sets lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp.

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It was the latest blow in what has been a difficult 2025 to date for Djokovic.

It began with the 37-year-old retiring after losing the first set of his Australian Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev due to a hamstring injury.

And despite saying he has fully recovered from the injury, he looked out of sorts in his first-round defeat to Matteo Berrettini at the Qatar Open.

While at Indian Wells if anything Djokovic was even more unlike his usual consistent self, with a whopping 37 unforced errors in the 2-6 6-3 6-1 defeat to van de Zandschulp.

Novak Djokovic has lost three straight matches for the first time in seven years. (Photo by Fred Mullane/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Adding to the humiliation of the defeat, the Dutchman only made the main draw as a lucky loser, having lost in qualifying before his first-round match against Nick Kyrgios where the Aussie retired with a wrist injury.

And the loss marked the first time since 2018 that Djokovic has lost three straight matches, and having fallen to seventh on the ATP Rankings, his spot among the men’s top 10 is not under threat.

Prominent tennis commentator Jose Morgado described Djokovic’s performance as “soooo bad” and “tough to watch”.

While tennis fan Scott Barclay wrote: “As a huge huge fan of his, I’m not joking when I say this might be the worst start to a tennis match I’ve ever seen from Novak Djokovic.”

Another added: “This really might be Novak Djokovic’s last year playing tennis this is insane man. Never thought I’d see the day where his level would decline this rapidly but here we are”.

Novak Djokovic had 37 unforced errors as he was bundled out of Indian Wells. (Getty Images via AFP)

After the defeat Djokovic expressed ‘regret’ for his poor display as he levelled part of the blame on the court conditions.

“To be honest, the difference between the centre court and the other courts is immense,” he said.

“Ball is bouncing on the centre courts higher than some of the highest clay courts.”

Should either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Australian Alex de Minaur, currently eighth and ninth in the rankings respectively, reach the Indian Wells final, they will leapfrog Djokovic in the rankings.

While the loss boosts de Minaur’s chances further, given the fact he was set to play the Serbian great in the fourth round should both have made it through.

Originally published as ‘Tough to watch’: Novak Djokovic hits sad new low as he loses three straight matches