Former world No 1 Andy Roddick has weighed in on the controversy that arose during Novak Djokovic’s shock defeat to Luca Nardi at the 2024 Indian Wells Open last week.
The 2003 US Open winner labelled Djokovic’s complaint that Nardi stopped during a point as a “desperation move” and feels the incident was an “unforced error” on the great Serbian’s part.
Novak Djokovic fell to a stunning 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 defeat to Nardi, who was a lucky loser and ranked 123rd in the world at the time, in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells.
Early in the second set, Nardi looked like he expected a Djokovic serve to be called out, but made the return and continued playing to win the point — with Djokovic stopping at the net and looking at the umpire as the Italian played the final shot.
The world No 1 claimed his 20-year-old opponent had stopped after his serve and felt he should have been awarded the point due to hindrance. The umpire disagreed and stood by his call to award Nardi the game.
"He literally stopped" 🤯
A moment of contention during Novak Djokovic vs Luca Nardi…#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/AlVndqqBZM
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 12, 2024
The point did not affect the outcome of the second set, which Djokovic went on to win, but the 36-year-old mentioned the incident during his handshake with Nardi.
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick defended Nardi as he suggested Djokovic’s actions were a sign of desperation.
“It’s a desperation move, I don’t see any world where Novak should ever be desperate against someone ranked 123 in the world. One, the guy didn’t stop. Like, you watch it, he didn’t stop,” the 32-time ATP titlist declared.
“Like, there have been 27 other clips of him (Djokovic) where, and I hate this, to turn back the clock 13 years and expect us to remember a certain point, but like there are all these things of Novak kind of definitely not stopping, but stopping way more than Nardi did in that point.
“Nardi did not stop. And even if your opponent stops, that doesn’t mean that you have to. Quite the opposite! If they stop, you keep going, you win the point.
“So it’s like, to choose to — one, be wrong about what someone else is doing. Then make the wrong decision on continuation, then make a stink about it to the ref, and then mention it to a young player who just had the biggest moment of their life at the handshake, is just an unforced error in my mind.”
Tennis journalist John Wertheim also gave his thoughts on the controversy and claimed Djokovic’s complaint was “gamesmanship.”
“You’re playing a lucky loser outside of the top 100, who’s closer to your kids’ age than he is to yours. You gotta do something to shake things up. I think this was sort of gamesmanship from Novak — try and get into this kid’s head,” he said.
“I don’t think he had much of a leg to stand on. At some point, you gotta let it go, I mean, the fact that it came up in the handshake, I’m curious what a former player would make of this, ’cause from what I saw, it just seems a little beneath him?”
