Google News Novak Djokovic after the defeat: "I'm far from my level"
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Novak Djokovic changed nothing compared to the Monte-Carlo tournament and made up for a bad defeat, the third of the season, in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event in Banja Luka. He told: "I'm far from the desired level, I played passively and made many mistakes.
It's normal that a defeat comes." The Serbian had clearly won the previous two against Dusan Lajovic, but today he played one of his worst matches and lost in straight sets. Djokovic never made the difference in the most important moments of the match.
In the first set he didn't take advantage of ten of the eleven break points conceded to him by Lajovic. In the second, however, he threw away three set points in the final part of the tie-break.
Djokovic's statements after the bad defeat against Lajovic
Nole explained during the press conference: "Lajovic played well; I played much worse than usual.
I was below my level, but this is sport. I didn't feel well on the pitch: my shots were slow, my legs were out turns. I only played well on a few occasions today. Do I think I can reverse the trend? If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't play.
The fact that I played badly, that I made a lot of mistakes when I shouldn't have, has nothing to do with my confidence. He has been more aggressive than last time, this is a positive change for him. He served well and played better than me throughout the game.
I'm far from my best tennis. I'm not surprised by his performance, he's very strong mentally. I hope I'm ready for Roland Garros. In previous years I had a rather slow start on clay. Madrid? We'll see, I don't think I can think straight after losing a game.
I haven't planned anything yet. The defeat is still fresh, I want to wait and evaluate. We'll see what the next step is."
