Alejandro Tabilo maintained his flawless record against Novak Djokovic with another stunning win on Wednesday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Chilean cruised past the world No. 1 in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, for his second victory over Djokovic in less than a year.
Just as in Rome last season, Tabilo capitalized on a below-par performance from the 24-time Grand Slam champion, outplaying him from the baseline and holding firm in key moments to reach the third round in The Principality.
With this win, Tabilo joins an exclusive club of players with a perfect record against Djokovic in at least two meetings. Only former World No. 1 Marat Safin and Jiri Vesely had previously achieved that feat. Safin beat Djokovic twice at Grand Slam events, while Vesely upset him in Monte Carlo in 2016 and again in Dubai in 2022.
Other players with a positive head-to-head vs Djokovic
Several others hold positive head-to-head records against Djokovic, though none remained undefeated across multiple encounters. Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick leads that list with a 5-4 record, winning five of their first seven meetings.
Nick Kyrgios went up 2-0 early in their rivalry before Djokovic beat him in the 2022 Wimbledon final. Fernando Gonzalez also won two out of three, as did Ivo Karlovic, both relying on powerful serving.
One-off wins over Djokovic were also recorded by Dan Evans, Taro Daniel, Antony Dupuis, Dennis Van Scheppingen, and Filippo Volandri, with most coming early in the Serbian’s career.
Djokovic’s struggles continue
The defeat to Tabilo adds to a rough stretch for Djokovic in 2025. Despite reaching the Miami final last month, where he lost to Jakub Mensik, his clay-court season is off to a rocky start. He admitted feeling unbalanced and committed 14 unforced errors in the first set alone on Wednesday.
After the match, Djokovic didn’t hold back. “I knew I’m probably going to play pretty bad, but this bad, I didn’t expect,” he said. “Just horrible. Horrible feeling to play this way. Just sorry for all the people who had to witness this.”
So far this year, Djokovic retired from the Australian Open semifinals due to injury, and suffered early losses in Dubai and Indian Wells. With the French Open as his stated priority this spring, he’ll need to turn things around quickly if he hopes to be a contender in Paris.