Nardi pulls off stunning upset of Djokovic at Indian Wells Masters

Luca Nardi is a lucky loser at the BNP Paribas Open. His luck seemed to run out when he drew Novak Djokovic in the third round.

Instead, it became the highlight of Nardi’s career–and probably his entire life.

The world No. 123, who has a poster of Djokovic hanging in his bedroom, stunned the top-ranked player in the world 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the season’s first Masters 1000 event on Monday night. Nardi triumphed after two hours and 20 minutes of play.

“Amazing feeling,” the Italian assured. “I couldn’t even imagine to play a match against him, and now I also beat him. So it’s such a dream come true for me…. Incredible. Against Djokovic…he’s the best player ever. So I think that I will keep this moment for me for the rest of my life. For sure.”

It’s a moment no one could have foreseen–especially after Nardi lost to David Goffin in the final round of qualifying. However, 30th-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry withdrew and thanks to Etcheverry’s exit Nardi not only gained entry into the main draw but also got a bye to the second round.

The rest is history.

“I would say you are crazy,” the 20-year-old said when asked what he would have thought if someone had told him after losing in qualifying that this would happen. “No one could imagine it. I was like (the) third lucky loser. It was something (that) surprised me when I got in. I never beat (a) top-50 (player). I also beat (Zhizhen) Zhang in the first round. Now Djokovic. I don’t know what to say about it. For sure I would say to him that he’s crazy, yeah.”

A poor performance by Djokovic, however, was not entirely unexpected. The 36-year-old was playing in Indian Wells for the first time since 2019, plus he had played in just one previous tournament in 2024–which resulted in an Australian Open semifinal loss to Jannik Sinner. Djokovic needed three sets to defeat Aleksandar Vukic in his opening match on Saturday.

The Serb survived that contest, but he could not overcome his own struggles–or a red-hot Nardi–on Monday.

“Congrats to him for particularly in the third set playing some great, great tennis,” Djokovic praised. “I watched him play. I didn’t know much about him, but I watched him play and I knew he possesses great quality tennis from the baseline–especially the forehand side. Moves well. Very talented. He got in as a Lucky Loser to main draw, so he really didn’t have anything to lose. He played great; deserved to win.

“I was more surprised with my level. My level was really, really bad. That’s it, you know. These two things come together. He’s having a great day; I’m having a really bad day. (It) results as a negative outcome for me.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.