Tennis World number one Novak Djokovic suffered a shocking loss in three sets to Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the third round at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Djokovic, dominated the opening set and won but eventually lost 4-6, 7-5 and 6-4 in a match interrupted by a one-hour rain delay.
The win was Lorenzo Musetti’s biggest win of his career and will pit him against compatriot Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals stage.
“I am struggling not to cry,” Musetti said. “It is an emotional win because it was a really long match.”
He added, “I am really proud of myself and I can see on the screen, I am struggling not to cry because it is a dream for me.”
Grand Slam champion Djokovic however said he did not feel the defeat was “catastrophic” but admitted he felt terrible exiting the tournament.
“I don’t think it’s catastrophic, but my feeling is bad right now because I lost the match,” Djokovic said.
“Well, [my] feeling is terrible after playing like this, honestly,” he added. “But congrats to him. He stayed tough in important moments, and that’s it. That’s all I can say.”
Two-time champion Djokovic, playing his first tournament since Dubai in early March, saw his serve broken eight times by world number 21 Musetti during the two-hour 54-minute match. He had lost serve just 17 times in his 17 previous matches this year.
Lorenzo Musetti will be hoping to get past the resilient Jannik Sinner who came back from a set and match point down to beat Hubert Hurkacz.