It is the impossible result, the impossible match. The impact is so great that it is difficult to decipher it. The world number 1 was on his knees, like never before, like never in history. A 6-2 and 6-1 given by the Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the ATP of Vienna that marks the finalist of Roland Garros, where he yielded in front of Rafael Nadal. This misstep, on the surface, seems more painful. Because of the amazing, because it escapes from any type of context. It is the worst result of the Serbian Novak Djokovic’s career in a three-set match.
He had never finished a match in this category before giving up less than four games, it only happened in his Grand Slams debut against Marat Safin, in Australia 2005, when he lost 6-0, 6-2 and 6-1. Logically, he was very young, inexperienced. But what just happened in Vienna changes everything.
Italian tennis is in heaven, with Matteo Berrettini, today, the best of all, with Fabio Fognini the indomitable old artist, with Jannik Sinner, a young man with dreams of greatness and also with Lorenzo Sonego. At the ATP 500 in Vienna, this 25-year-old, born in Turin, delivered the biggest blow in history to Nole, who will end the season as world number 1. No one can remove the crown. And yet he suffered a KO drive. Of those that happen in the ring. The 6-2 and 6-1 for the quarterfinals does not resist further analysis: it did not seem to be the world number 42. He resembled the number 1 in front of an inexperienced. Djokovic was fatigued, physically and mentally.
Djokovic’s surprise loss was the third loss of the year for the Serbian, who also fell in the Roland Garros final and was disqualified (for a ball hitting a linesman) in his match against Spain’s Pablo Carreño at the US Open. In other words, this was the only “earthly” match. And it was a huge shock.
“It is the best victory of my life. Novak is the best player in the world. Today I played very, very well. It is incredible,” said Sonego, after his victory in one hour and 8 minutes of play against the number one in the ranking and Top favorite in the Austrian ATP 500 category tournament, on hard courts and with 1,409,510 euros in prizes.
