Novak Djokovic concerned by 'no tempo, no balance' display in Italian Open loss following head injury: "Like a different player entered into my shoes"

Novak Djokovic faced an unexpected exit from the 2024 Italian Open on Sunday (May 12), losing in the third round to Chilean Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets. The Serb himself was left concerned by the loss, especially with the way he played on the day without any balance or tempo to his game.

The World No. 1's defeat comes 48 hours after he sustained a head injury in a freak accident in Rome, wherein a fan's bottle accidentally slipped out of their bag and hit Djokovic on the head.

Initially, the 24-time Grand Slam champion had assured fans that he was alright, but at his press conference after the loss to Tabilo, Djokovic appeared far more concerned about the impact of the hit.

The 36-year-old gave his version of the incident, adding that he went through a 30-minute period of nausea, dizziness and blood loss after sustaining the injury.

"I think in the video you saw it very clearly. It was a very unfortunate, unlucky situation for me. It was an accident where that guy leaned over the fence, and the bottle dropped from his rucksack and landed directly on my head," Djokovic said.

"It was unexpected obviously. I wasn't even looking up. Then I felt a very strong hit in the head. That has, yeah, really impacted me a lot. After that I got the medical care. Been through half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood, a lot of different things," he added.

While the World No. 1 maintained that he has been fine since the incident and that he has not suffered any lack of sleep, he stated that he felt like a totally different player on the court on Sunday. The Serb pointed to his lack of any rhythm, tempo and balance on his shots, which he felt were a bit concerning at the moment for him.

"I managed to sleep okay. I had headaches. The next day or yesterday was pretty fine, so I thought it's okay. Maybe it is okay. Maybe it's not. I mean, the way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot. It's a bit concerning," Djokovic said.

"I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on" - Novak Djokovic

Internazionali BNL D'Italia 2024 - Day Seven

Novak Djokovic further noted that he will now go for medical check-ups and see what the extent of the injury is, something he had not done in the days before. The Serb admitted that while he did not feel anything in training, when put under pressure in a competitive enviroment, he could feel how badly his co-ordination was affected by the hit to the head.

"I don't know, to be honest. I have to check that. Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn't feel anything, but I also didn't feel the same," Djokovic said.

"Today under high stress, it was quite bad - not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don't know. I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on," he added.

The Serb will be in action next at the 2024 French Open, where he is the defending champion. Alejandro Tabilo, on the other hand, will next take on Karen Khachanov in the fourth round of the Italian Open.