3 key takeaways from Novak Djokovic's crushing Indian Wells opener loss

Novak Djokovic returned to the tennis courts at the Indian Wells Masters but much like the Qatar Open return, it was a short-lived one. The Serb's stint at the Qatar Open ended after he was beaten by Matteo Berrettini in the opening round.

The same thing happened at the Indian Wells Masters where Djokovic lost in his first match. This time around, it was Botic van de Zandschulp who bested the 24-time Grand Slam winner.

On that note, here are three key takeaways from Novak Djokovic's loss to the Zandschulp:

1. Djokovic losing to a Lucky Loser

BNP Paribas Open - Day 4 - Source: Getty

Novak Djokovic's opponent Van de Zandschulp had to play the qualifiers to get into the main draw, where he lost to a player (Matteo Gigante) ranked outside of the Top 100.

Zandschulp defeated Djokovic, and deservedly so because he was ultimately better. He is a very streaky player capable of beating anybody on his day, and losing to some rather weak players. This is best highlighted by the fact that the Dutch beat Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz in the last six months. However, losing to a lucky loser is never a good thing, especially for a 24-time Grand Slam champion.

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2. Djokovic's slow court struggles

Novak Djokovic had enjoyed the slow Indian Wells court earlier in his career, where he was able to counter shot-makers he came across. Roger Federer couldn’t really hit through him as effectively as he could on other surfaces.

Now that the pendulum has swung the other way, though in fairness it’s a really slow court. It’s arguably an even slower court than before, with lower bounce making it even harder to hit through.

This was the first match in the last four years where Djokovic didn’t hit a single ace and that’s an issue because if he can’t win points easily, the Serb might struggle as he was never a power player like Alcaraz, blasting through with raw strength.

Djokovic was a player of margins, and those margins are gone on the slower courts. The same thing happened in Doha, which was another slow court where he struggled to do much against Berrettini outside of the serve. At the Indian Wells, when the serve went out against van de Zandschulp it was game over for the former World No. 1

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3. Novak Djokovic's decline is evident

Whether we like to admit it or not, Djokovic is on the decline and it can't really be ignored anymore. This doesn’t mean that Djokovic can’t play tennis anymore or be competitive, but the days of his dominance are likely gone. He looked pretty bad in Indian Wells last year as well, and it arguably might have more to do with the actual court than his play.

He’s not well suited for these types of slow hard courts. Clay is most likely fine but hard courts like this, probably not. Time will tell how severe the decline is because he looked really good in Australia. He looked good enough where you could see him winning at least one or two more Grand Slams.

However, that's not been the case recently, and perhaps it might have something to do with the leg injury as well. Djokovic looked in pain after his Qatar Open appearance, suggesting he’s still dealing with some minor aftermath of the injury.

It would certainly explain how bad he looked out there, because when was the last time one saw Djokovic hitting thrice as many unforced errors as winners. He had 15 winners in the match and 37 unforced errors, which is a horrible stat line. It’s the type of statistic his opponents would put up when facing him.

Djokovic couldn’t keep the ball in play, tried to do too much and struggled to finish off points, at times looking like he didn’t even want to play.

Next up likely Monte-Carlo. It’s rather unlikely we will see him in Miami as we haven’t in a while, and it makes sense to better prepare for clay and give himself time to fully recover from lingering leg issues.