After Novak Djokovic's Monte-Carlo Masters disaster, tennis analyst issues verdict on his recent heartbreaks

Tennis analyst Gill Gross recently shared his thoughts on Novak Djokovic's unexpected loss in the second round of the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters. He also discussed the Serb's performance at the Miami Open this year.

Djokovic was seeded third at the ATP Masters 1000 clay court event in Monaco, and he kicked off his campaign in the second round after receiving a first-round bye. He faced Alejandro Tabilo in his opening match and lost in straight sets, with a score of 3-6, 4-6.

Before participating at Monte Carlo, the former World No.1 competed at the Miami Open, where he defeated players like Rinky Hijikata, Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Lorenzo Musetti, Sebastian Korda, and Grigor Dimitrov to reach the final, where he lost to Jakub Mensik 6-7(4), 6-7(4).

During a recent episode of the Monday Match Analysis podcast, Gill Gross shared his thoughts on Novak Djokovic's performances at both the Miami Open and the Monte-Carlo Masters. Gross admitted that he had low expectations for the Serb before the Miami Open, given his lackluster performances in ATP Masters 1000 hard-court tournaments for the past few years.

Gross also expressed that he was skeptical about the 24-time Grand Slam champion's chances at the Monte-Carlo Masters, citing his underwhelming results at the tournament in previous years, except 2024, when he reached the semifinals before losing to Casper Ruud.

"Going into Miami my expectations were extremely low. I didn’t think we were going to see a good level from Novak Djokovic. He came into Miami having not made a quarterfinal in the Sunshine swing since 2016 and Monte Carlo hasn’t been much better over the years. He did make the semis last year and lost to Casper Ruud," Gross said [6:07].

Gill Gross then admitted that his doubts about Novak Djokovic's abilities were dashed after seeing his impressive performance at the Miami Open, where he finished as the runner-up.

"But Monte Carlo by large, there’s been a lot of defeats. Now you can add the 2025 loss to [Alejandro] Tabilo to that list. So my expectations were very low and here he comes with some of the best serving rhythm, really consistent, controlling the ball off the ground to the best of his abilities, speed around the court was good, certainly some subpar fitness in patches for Djokovic which did cost him in the second set against [Jakub] Mensik," he continued [6:37].

The analyst acknowledged that the 24-time Grand Slam champion's strong showing in Miami raised his expectations for the Monte-Carlo Masters, especially considering he "traditionally improves" in the tournaments ahead of the French Open.

"Feeling much more optimistic about Novak Djokovic because I saw that as a building block where he was going to inevitably get better. I felt it was a spectacular level given the time of year based on what we’ve seen which in theory would put him ahead of schedule in his run up in which he traditionally improves as we get closer to Roland Garros," Gill Gross added [7:09].

This season, Novak Djokovic's best performances included finishing as the runner-up at the 2025 Miami Open. He made it to the semifinals and quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the Brisbane International, respectively.

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What did Novak Djokovic say after his Monte-Carlo Masters 2025 defeat?

Novak Djokovc pictured speaking at a press conference [Image Source: Getty Images]

While speaking to the press following his loss to Alejandro Tabilo in the second round of the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters, Novak Djokovic stated that he had expected to put up a "decent performance" but was surprised to see himself play so 'horribly,' describing it as simply "bad."

"I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible . I did not have high expectations. I knew I'm going to have a tough opponent and I knew I'm going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn't expect," he said [via ATP Tour].

The Serb expressed his disappointment with his performance and mentioned that it was a "horrible feeling" to play the way he did,

"[It was] just horrible. A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this," he added

Novak Djokovic has won the Monte-Carlo Masters twice - in 2013 after defeating Rafael Nadal in the final, and then won the title again in 2015 by triumphing over Tomas Berdych in the championship match.