Novak Djokovic blames ‘illness’ and apologises to crowd for final-set bagel in Serbia Open final loss to Andrey Rublev

World No.1 Novak Djokovic apologised to his home crowd and blamed a recent “illness” after losing the Serbia Open final when getting ‘bageled’ by Andrey Rublev in the decider. Djokovic was playing just his third ATP tournament of the season as he continues his clay-court preparations ahead of next month’s French Open. Ad/> The Serbian, who lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening match at Monte Carlo the previous week, beat Laslo Djere, Miomir Kecmanovic and Karen Khachanov en route to reaching the final in Belgrade.

ATP BelgradeRublev takes Serbia Open title after tough three-set battle with Djokovic18 HOURS AGO Second seed Rublev took the opening set 6-2 before Djokovic levelled the match when winning the second-set tie-break 7-4, but the 34-year-old then “ran out of gas” in the final set, which he lost 6-0. “I didn’t feel too tired until the end of the second set” Djokovic said afterwards. “The 5-4 game was a long game and that is when I started to not feel great.

I think I played well in the tie-break. “I came out ready to fight another set, but it wasn’t [a] very pleasant thing for people to see on the court, so I am sorry for that kind of experience as I knew people wanted to see me fight and try and win. But it wasn’t to be this time.

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