Novak Djokovic suffered career first that he'll want to forget in Monte Carlo Masters loss

Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters in what was his first match since February as he suffered a three-set defeat to world No 46 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday. It was the Serb's earliest exit at the clay court Masters in six years and for the first time in the world No 1's career, he suffered nine breaks of serve in a best-of-three set match.

Djokovic returned to the tour in Monte Carlo after being unable to play Indian Wells and Miami over his unvaccinated status. It was just his second tournament of the year after the Dubai Championships, where he lost to qualifier Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals.

But the top seed's rustiness proved detrimental as 22-year-old Davidovich Fokina managed to get the win of his career over the 20-time Major champion 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 in just under three hours. The Spaniard attacked Djokovic's serve as the world No 1 broke an unfortunate career record he won't want to repeat, suffering the most breaks of his serve ever in a best-of-three match.

The world No 46 managed to break his opponent nine times, holding 20 break points throughout the match. Every other match Djokovic has played and been broken nine times has come over best-of-five sets at Grand Slams, including against Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem at the French Open in 2012 and 2019 respectively.

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Following the world No 1's defeat to Vesely in Dubai, the match also marked Djokovic's first set of back-to-back defeats since the Tokyo Olympics last year, where he lost the semi-final to Alexander Zverev and the bronze medal playoff to Pablo Carreno Busta. With minimal match play in 2022, the 34-year-old admitted he suffered a physical