On Monday, Luca Nardi, a qualifying lucky loser, defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters. At Masters tournaments, the world number 123 from Italy ended the Serb’s 11-match winning run. Nardi defeated the childhood tennis idol whose poster hung above his bed from the age of eight.
The 20-year-old did not let Djokovic’s impressive game frighten him, as he broke the Serbian player to take a 4-2 lead in the final set and then won three games later with a match point ace.
In less than two and a half hours, the Italian finished with 36 wins and 41 unforced errors, while Djokovic made 31 errors.
“Before this night no-one knew me,” Nardi stated in an on-court interview following his victory. “I hope the crowd enjoyed the game; I’m super happy with this one.”
When asked how he managed to pull off his greatest win of his career Nardi said, “I don’t know. I think it really is a miracle. I’m a guy ranked outside the top 100 in the world and now I’m beating Novak — crazy, crazy.”
Nardi only made it to the main draw at Indian Wells after withdrawing. He was defeated by Belgium’s David Goffin in the final round of qualifying.
