Djokovic suffers ‘weird’ loss at Indian Wells

Novak Djokovic produced a puzzling performance as the former world No.1 lost to Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel in the second round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California on Sunday.

On his return from right elbow surgery, Djokovic looked a pale shadow of his former self as he went down 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-1 to make a quick exit from a tournament he has won five times.

“It felt like the first match I have ever played on the tour, very weird,” he told reporters. “I just completely lost rhythm, everything, struggled a little bit with the health the last couple of weeks.”

Djokovic took six months off after Wimbledon last year and returned in January’s Australian Open where he lost in the fourth round. He had surgery in Switzerland shortly after that.

Djokovic’s performance in the final set against the world’s 109th-ranked player on center court raised some eyebrows, with four-time Grand Slam champion Jim Courier saying the Serb had “capitulated.”

“The question marks surrounding his defeat today will only grow larger,” Courier said in commentary on the Tennis Channel.

“We wondered post surgery what it was going to look like, how his elbow was going to react to the strain and stress, but it was his heart and head that didn’t react the right way in this match. That is as head scratching as anything you’ll see.”

Holder Roger Federer avoided the same fate as Djokovic, though the Swiss top seed was pushed by left-handed Argentine Federico Delbonis in a match that was completed on Sunday after being halted by rain at 2-2 in the second set the previous day.

The top seed fended off a set point in the tiebreaker to beat Delbonis 6-3 7-6(6).

Frenchman Gael Monfils survived a match point before beating big-serving American John Isner 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in a contest that had only one break.

Isner, the 15th seed, frittered away seven break points, while Monfils converted one of his three opportunities, which proved enough.

In late action, Croat second seed Marin Cilic beat Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-3, while Canadian Milos Raonic defeated 17-year-old compatriot Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4.