Novak Djokovic suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Casper Ruud at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters and has to endure his trophyless season for a few more weeks.
Djokovic was the top seed and in search of his third title at the tournament. On April 13, the Serb faced Casper Ruud in his first semifinal at the Masters-1000 event since his title-winning 2015 campaign. The World No. 1 had an unblemished record against Ruud, winning their five previous contests in straight sets.
However, that excellent streak got broken in the first set at Monte-Carlo as the Norwegian converted two of the three breakpoints to edge out the first set. Djokovic recovered well in the second set to force a decider. But, it was Ruud's day as he was able to close out the contest on the third match point with a score of 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
The semifinal exit at the Monte-Carlo Masters means that Novak Djokovic will remain titleless this season for a few more weeks. The Serb was asked about his thoughts on his trophy drought during his press conference in Monte-Carlo and responded that he is not satisfied with his performances, which have been below his "high expectations."
The 24-time Grand Slam champion has only played three tournaments in 2024. He reached the semifinals at the Australian Open (losing to Jannik Sinner), the third round at the BNP Paribas Open (losing to Luca Nardi), and has now finished the Monte-Carlo Masters in the last four.
Djokovic hopes for a better showing at his next tournament and builds upon his performance in Monte-Carlo.
"Well, I mean, I'm used to really high standard in terms of expectations of the results, so not having a title is, maybe comparing to the last 15 years, not a great season at all. But I had semis of Australia, semis here. I only played three tournaments this year, so of course, you know, it's normal to expect that you have some seasons where you don't start well, and this is the one," Djokovic said.
He continued, "Hopefully, yeah, I can pick up, in terms of results, I can build from here, because, you know, I played some good tennis. Hopefully in the next tournaments I'll be able to play even better."
Novak Djokovic expected to play at Madrid Open next
Novak Djokovic will be hoping to break his 2024 title drought at the Madrid Open (April 22-29), where he currently features as the top seed. The Serb is a three-time champion at the Masters-1000 tournament, last winning it in 2019.
Djokovic last played in Madrid in 2022 and lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals. Interestingly, the last time the 36-year-old was trophyless on the ATP Tour until April was in 2022. After his exit in Madrid that year, he went on to win his first title at the Italian Open.
The Serb has won 10 matches so far in 2024, with his biggest win this year coming against World No. 11 Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
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