"Hardest record in tennis history that snaps after 1st day-session"- Fans point hands at day-time scheduling for Novak Djokovic's Australian Open exit

Novak Djokovic's campaign for a record-breaking 25th Major title came to an unceremonious end on Friday (January 26), as he lost 1-6, 2-6, 7-6(6), 3-6 to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open. The Serb dropped a last-four match in Melbourne for the first time in his career through this loss.

Djokovic had enjoyed an imperious 20-0 record in the final and the semifinals of the Australian Open before Friday. Interestingly enough, all of those matches took place in the night session. This year, however, the organizers introduced some scheduling changes, which led to the first men's singles semifinal being played in the day session.

Tennis fans on social media, meanwhile, didn't miss a beat at trolling Novak Djokovic and his supporters after learning the above fact. One fan insisted that the Serb's dominance after the quarterfinal stage in Melbourne wasn't impressive after all.

They also inferred that the 36-year-old's monopoly of the Australian Open was underwhelming compared to Rafael Nadal's reign over Roland Garros, since the latter had won big matches in Paris in many different conditions: day, night, windy, cool, rainy, etc.

"Hardest record in tennis history that snaps after his first day-session. We did it indoors, outdoors, morning, night, June, October, Babolat balls, Wilson Balls. Never Compare," they wrote.

Another fan, meanwhile, asserted that the 36-year-old's 2024 season was in peril as he had failed to win his most successful Major tournament.

"It's a bit of a wakeup call to Djokovic fans. Their man's entire career rested on him winning the first slam of the year. And today they find out that he's not even the 10th best at his Slam in sunny, day conditions," they wrote.

Here are a few more reactions from social media:

Novak Djokovic previously beat Rafael Nadal and Roger Feder in night conditions at the Australian Open

2020 Australian Open - Day 11

Novak Djokovic probably prefers night session over day Down Under, considering his style of play pops off more in cooler, less windy conditions. The Serb looked quite uncomfortable during his last-four clash against Jannik Sinner on Friday, as he struggled to get underneath the ball and failed at hitting his mark on return.

The 10-time Melbourne titlist would've likely given Sinner way more resistance if their match was scheduled for the night session. In the past, the Serb has downed Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray on multiple occasions in the dusk.

Here is the list of players that the 24-time Major winner has defeated in the semifinals in night conditions at the Australian Open:

	Final	Semifinal
2008	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Roger Federer
2011	Andy Murray	Roger Federer
2012	Rafael Nadal	Andy Murray
2013	Andy Murray	David Ferrer
2015	Andy Murray	Stan Wawrinka
2016	Andy Murray	Roger Federer
2019	Rafael Nadal,	Lucas Pouille
2020	Dominic Thiem	Roger Federer
2021	Daniil Medvedev	Aslan Karatsev
2023	Stefanos Tsitsipas	Tommy Paul