"I was just physically completely collapsed"
“I was hanging on the ropes the entire match. I was really chasing the result constantly,” admitted Djokovic. “He could have won this match in straight sets, and I just fought my way through to the third, but then I was just physically completely collapsed.”
That’s very un-Djokovic like.
Following his well-documented omission from the Australian Open, the world No.1 had last featured on Tour in a quarter-finals loss to Jiri Vesely in Dubai back in February. With that in mind, there was obviously going to be some rust in his play, the 34-year-old attempting to recapture his dominant form and match sharpness after a testing time.
“Obviously last four, five months have been really challenging for me mentally and emotionally, but I try to leave all of that behind and move on,” declared the 34-year-old, highlighting where he was most frustrated in Monte Carlo.