Novak Djokovic suffered a 2023 defeat on Friday for the first time since November. The world number one lost in the semifinals of the ATP tournament in Dubai in two sets to the Russian Daniil Medvedev: 6-4 and 6-4. Djokovic had a lot of trouble with Medvedev’s (ATP-7) game on the hard court in the United Arab Emirates throughout the match. The 35-year-old Serbian lost his own game twice in the first set and was unable to repair the damage sufficiently.

First defeat in 2023

In the second company, Medvedev struck right at his first break point. The 27-year-old Russian then struggled to beat Djokovic in his own service, but was still able to win. It is Djokovic’s first singles defeat in twenty games. The world top player lost for the last time on November 6 in the final of the Masters tournament in Paris. Then the Danish top talent Holger Rune was too strong: 3-6, 6-3 and 7-5. It was a huge blow for people who used their free bets to bet on Novak Djokovic. Many people thought the Serbian would be able to continue his winning streak for quite some time.

Troubles for Djokovic

Djokovic already had a remarkable amount of trouble in the first round with the Czech qualifier Tomás Machác (ATP-130): 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6 (1). Then he defeated Tallon Grepes (ATP-39) and Hubert Hurkacz (ATP-11) in straight sets. Medvedev, who recently won the tournaments in Rotterdam and Doha, will face his compatriot Andrey Rublev in the final. The global number six won in the semifinals against the German Alexander Zverev (ATP-16): 6-3 and 7-6 (9). The fact people are surprised whenever he loses a match, shows what a huge player Djokovic is. He’s expected to win every single match and if he doesn’t win, it’s considered a failure. Only the real big players have this problem, or should we call it a privilege?