Dino Prizmic upset Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in round two of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday afternoon. Prizmic recovered from a slow start to take down the six-time champion after two hours and 15 minutes.
Djokovic was clearly dealing with some sort of illness during the second set, but he looked fine throughout the decider. Nonetheless, the Serb could not recover from an early break deficit.
“Big respect for Novak; he is my idol,” Prizmic said. “It was definitely a great match for me today. I played unbelievable. I just want to stay focused and be ready for the next one.”
“I came [to Rome] for a match or more — unfortunately it was only one match,” Djokovic commented. “But I’m pleased that I fought until the end…. It’s not ideal preparation (for Roland Garros), to be honest. It is frustrating, but it is what it is.”
The 38-year-old had previously been 18-0 lifetime in opening matches at the Rome Masters.
Prizmic’s coming-out party on tour — unless you count this result as such — came against none other than Djokovic at the 2024 Australian Open, where the 18-year-old pushed the Serb in a competitive 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 contest.
Prizmic was unable to sustain momentum from that result largely due to injuries, but he is finally starting to play the best and most consistent tennis of his career. The 79th-ranked Croat has won nine ATP-level matches this season, including two in Madrid as a qualifier over Matteo Berrettini and Ben Shelton.
Djokovic said afterward that he will not take a wild card into next week’s Geneva ATP 250, so his next match will come at Roland Garros.
nice one, Dino
He showed no fear, and no mercy, the blueprint on what it takes to beat Djokovic, well done Dino
From Prizmic’s perspective, he played very competitively against Djokovic as a teenager, and has learnt a ton since then; that would have given him the belief he could do it. Well done.
No WC into Geneva? Hmmm. I hope his training is equivalent to matchplay, but can it be? Maybe he’s going to use RG as a warmup for Wimby…
But dare I say it, a French Open title this month doesn’t look likely for him despite Alcaraz’ absence.
Always happy to be wrong about that sort of thing.