Djokovic exits Monte Carlo Masters on comeback I 'I ran out of gas'

Novak Djokovic's lack of match fitness caught up with him at the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday as the world No 1 exited the event at the hands of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The Serb, playing in just his second event of the year, made 51 unforced errors in difficult conditions to go out 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 in the second round.

Djokovic returned to the court for the first time since Dubai in February, where he lost in the quarter-finals to Jiri Vesely, but the Spanish world No 46 was far stronger in the deciding set to run away with victory.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion had elected not to attempt to compete in the US hard-court swing due to restrictions relating to his Covid-19 vaccination status.

"I'm disappointed. No one likes to lose. We're professional athletes. This is what we do. We go out on the court to compete and try to win against each other," Djokovic said.

"I didn't like the way I felt physically in the third set. I just ran out of the gas completely. Just couldn't really stay in the rally with him. If you can't stay in the rally, not feeling your legs on the clay, it's mission impossible.

"So I don't like that feeling I experienced in the third set but I'm going to look with my team into reasons why that was the case and go back to the drawing board and hopefully next week will be better in Belgrade."

A two-time winner in Monte Carlo, Djokovic was staring at a swift defeat when he lost the first set and was then immediately broken at the start of the second.

The Spaniard showed his inexperience with a needless dive at the start of the seventh game of the set, prompting injury fears and enabling Djokovic to reel off 10 points in a row as he broke back to love to wrestle the upper hand.

The momentum swung