Indian Wells: Djokovic loses again

Novak Djokovic suffered his third straight defeat as Dutch lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp pulled off a shock victory in the second round at Indian Wells.

The seventh seed lost 6-2 3-6 6-1 to the world number 85 in a subdued performance last Saturday.

Since memorably beating Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-finals, the 37-year-old has lost to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals in Melbourne, Matteo Berrettini in Doha and now Van de Zandschulp.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion won only one title last year — albeit the elusive Olympic gold he had always coveted — and failed to win a major for the first time since 2017.

"Things are obviously different for me in the last couple of years. I've been struggling to play on the desired level," said the Serb.

"Every now and then, I have couple good tournaments, but mostly it's really a challenge. It's a struggle for me."

Djokovic was bidding to create more history with a standalone record sixth men's title in Indian Wells.

But, having been given a first-round bye, he fell in his opening match after producing a string of ugly mistakes.

In a performance well below his high standards, Djokovic made 37 unforced errors and only hit 16 winners to mitigate the damage.