Novak Djokovic faced another early exit at the Monte-Carlo Masters this week, falling in his opening match to Alejandro Tabilo. While disappointing, it wasn’t entirely unexpected—Djokovic has struggled at this tournament for years.
Since clinching his second Monte-Carlo title in 2016, Djokovic has only once reached the semi-finals—just last year. During that 2024 run, he defeated Alex de Minaur in the quarters. Their post-match exchange was memorable, with De Minaur labeling the match as “ugly” during their handshake at the net.
“It was ugly in the second set,” Djokovic admitted De Minaur said, adding, “We didn’t play at a high level. We both made a lot of unforced errors. A lot of breaks of serve, which is normal on clay, but maybe not that many.”
Despite a scrappy performance in that 2024 quarter-final—Djokovic hit 26 unforced errors and there were eight breaks of serve—he still came through 7-5, 6-4. He later reflected, “Sometimes you just have to find a way to win… I had some brilliant moments, but also some where I struggled to hit the ball clean.”
This year, however, there was no “winning ugly.” The world No. 5 fell 6-3, 6-4 to Tabilo and was brutally honest in his post-match comments: “It was actually more like the worst day. Just horrible. Horrible feeling to play this way… sorry for all the people that had to witness this.”
Djokovic is set to lose some ranking points as a result of not defending his 2024 semi-final showing. His Monte-Carlo record over the past few years includes opening-round losses in 2022 and now 2025, and third-round exits in 2021 and 2023—highlighting his ongoing clay-court challenges at the principality.
