World No.1 Novak stunned again

Back to back exits before reaching semis atleast for Novak Djokovic. This happened less than 2 weeks in two ATP masters. One exit when he faced Baby Federer, Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of Madrid open, and today in quarter-final match in Rome against Tomas Berdych.

I guess everybody would have changed the focus from this match when Novak was at 6-2, 5-2 lead. But suddenly the Birdman Berdych from Czech Republic played an inspiring comeback tennis and eventually took the second set with 7-5. With his strong and wide serving power he literally thrashed Djoker. Nole was not able to return those serves properly. And in the third set, Berdych broke Novak and took the set with 6-4.

For Novak Djokovic, two time champion of Rome Masters lost to Dimitrov last week and today to Berdych. He spoiled hope of many people, a Nole - Rafa match in semis.

"One day you have to break [the run] and I am happy that it was today. It was a great game and I am happy. I was trying to stay positive from the beginning. He didn't give me a single chance. I was trying to stay there and there are matches when you don't get a single chance, but then if you get one, then you are ready. Then everything could turn the other way and this is what happened." - Tomas Berdych

"I lost concentration and started to play more defensively, [I played] a bad game at 5-3 and I made some unforced errors. At this level you have to take advantage of the opportunities and I lost this game by myself." - Novak Djokovic

Related articles

• Result: Tomas Berdych beats Novak Djokovic in Rome (sportsmole.co.uk)


• Top-ranked Djokovic beaten by Berdych (news.smh.com.au)


• Berdych beats Djokovic in Rome (iol.co.za)


• Grigor Dimitrov stuns Novak Djokovic and completed his revenge (cnufederer.wordpress.com)