Fresh from his defeat to Jack Draper in the Indian Wells Round of 16, Novak Djokovic blamed it on one point, which proved to be costly later. Draper, who is also the defending champion, did it the hard way, tiring out his 38-year-old opponent in the third set.
In the opening game of the third set, with the score 30-30, and Djokovic serving, the pair went all out on each other in a 26-point rally. The Serbian veteran did win the point, though it reduced his energy levels by a great extent.
After he won the point, Draper had a break point later, but Djokovic managed to save it and held his serve to go 1-0 up. But according to him, it proved costly, as he ‘ran completely out of gas’.
“One point. Yeah, one point,” he said, after the match.
“Yeah, I mean, it cost me a break after, you know. It was great winning that point in that game, but I just, like, ran completely out of gas and just started to feel a bit better towards basically end of the third.
“He played a sloppy game to close it out 5-4, and, you know, I got the crowd, you know, backing me, and I felt the energy. It was, like, maybe I’m gonna take this one.
“It was so close, so close. I mean, just unfortunate few mistakes from my side. Tiebreak, 4-3 up. 5-All, as well. That’s tennis,” he added.
Draper ended up sealing a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory. The margins were very thin in the first two sets, and the tide shifted on the epic point in the first game of the opening set.
Draper is currently playing in his second tournament since missing the majority of six months due to an arm injury. He will now face Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Russian bagged a 6-2 6-4 win against American Alex Michelsen.
