Novak Djokovic suffers blow in French Open seed race with shocking Monte Carlo loss

The Serbian was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Tabilo in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament.

Djokovic broke the world No 32 in the first game of the match, but lost his own serve in the second and quickly found himself in trouble.

The former world No 1 failed to break Tabilo again in the match, with his only other chances coming late in the second set as his opponent sealed a convincing win.

The 24-time major winner now has a 0-2 record against Tabilo, having lost to the 27-year-old Chilean at last year's Italian Open.

Tabilo, who held a 3-9 record in 2025 prior to the match, said: "It's been a tough year. So the nerves were there a bit. I tried to remember what I did well last time.

"Thank God I served well today. It helped me a lot to regroup my game after that first game. It was an unreal match I think."

On losing his first six matches of the year, Tabilo added: "It's just been some tough times, personal. But we've been trying to take care of it. Match by match we've been getting a bit looser. Just so happy now that I'm feeling better."

Djokovic, the world No 5, arrived in Monte Carlo in good form after reaching the final of the Miami Open, where he lost to Jakub Mensik.

The tennis great's strong run in Miami improved his prospects of returning to the top four in the rankings - which could be important to his Grand Slam hopes.

This is because the top four seeds cannot play each other until the semi-finals at any tournament, which tends to be advantageous.

At the Australian Open, a seventh-seeded Djokovic had to face Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight, and although he won the match, it certainly made his route harder.

Djokovic, the world No 5, had a great chance to close the gap to world No 4 Taylor Fritz in Monte Carlo as the American pulled out of the event.

However, the 37-year-old will finish the tournament 1,160 points adrift of the American after being only 770 behind at the start.

This is because Djokovic reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo in 2024 and he will, therefore, drop 390 points due to his second round exit this time.

The Serbian was on the same side of the Monte Carlo draw as top seed Alexander Zverev, who lost his first match on Tuesday.

Djokovic will have further opportunities at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, while Fritz is set to play the ATP 500 tournament in Munich next week. 

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