Ever since Luca Nardi of Italy knocked Novak Djokovic out of the Indian Wells 2024, it has been the center of discussion in the tennis world. Djokovic’s loss also brought out another not-so-remarkable feat considering his history with Indian Wells. He lost in the round of 32 to Luca Nardi, which is the third round of the tournament. This marked the 6th time Novak Djokovic couldn’t qualify beyond the fourth round of the Indian Wells.
Novak Djokovic has been playing in the BNP Paribas Open for 15 years now. Of those 15 times, he has failed 6 times to make it to the quarter-final stages. One of Djokovic’s Big Three counterparts and an Indian Wells legend, Rafael Nadal only failed to qualify for the quarter-finals three times in comparison. Nadal too played the California-based ATP Masters 1000 event 15 times in his career.
Nadal remains the most consistent player in the history of this tournament in that sense. This is even though he won the tournament 3 times as compared to Djokovic’s 5. His consistency in reaching the final stages of this Open is remarkable.
The Spaniard has also been to the finals two more times, where he lost. The only other player to win the BNP Paribas Open 5 times is Roger Federer. But even Federer failed to go past the fourth round 5 times in his career. Therefore, Novak Djokovic’s record of 6 failures at Indian Wells is something he will not be very proud of.
Rafael Nadal has been playing in this tournament since 2004, and the only years he didn’t make it past the Round of 16 are 2004, 2014, and 2017. He lost to Agustin Calleri 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (10-12) in the third round in 2004; to Alexandr Dolgopolov 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7) in the third round again in 2014; and to Roger Federer 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round in 2017.
Roger Federer, on the other hand, made his Indian Wells debut in 2001. He lost 6-3, 5-7, 1-6 to Nicolas Keifer in the first round in 2001; 4-6, 3-6 to Thomas Enqvist in the third round in 2002; 5-7, 6-7 (3-7) to Gustavo Kuerten in the second round in 2003; 5-7, 2-6 to Guillermo Canas in the second round in 2007; and finally lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (4-7) to Marcos Baghdatis in 2010. In the next 9 years that he competed, Federer always made it to the finals, except once each in the semi-final and quarter-final.
Novak Djokovic’s loss to Luca Nardi highlights an interesting pattern
From Nadal’s three-time early elimination to Federer’s 5 times, the subject shifts back to Djokovic’s 6 times one more time. This poor record has come on a surface which is considered Djokovic’s fortress more than Federer and Nadal’s, the outdoor hard courts.
This time, an interesting pattern came to light. Djokovic lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Luca Nardi, a ‘Lucky Loser’ in this year’s Indian Wells. This loss isn’t very much different from his 2018 loss to Taro Daniel.
In the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, Djokovic was a 10th-seeded player, who was playing against Daniel, a qualified player, in the second round. Daniel beat him 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-1. A year before that, Djokovic lost to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round of 2017 Indian Wells. Djokovic came into the tournament as a 3-time defending champion (2014, 2015, 2016), but lost to Kyrgios 4-6, 6-7 (3-7).
Djokovic’s dismal run continued one more year in 2019 when the 5-time champion lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Djokovic entered the tournament as the no. 1 seeded player and lost 4-6, 4-6 to Kohlschreiber in the third round. Besides these, he has been one of the most consistent players in the tournament, still tying at the highest spot for the most number of wins.
Two other isolated incidents of his early losses are the 2006 BNP Paribas Open, where a qualifier player Julien Benneteau beat him 6-3, 6-4 in the first round; and the 2010 edition, where Djokovic was the second-seeded player. He lost 5-7, 3-6 in the fourth round to Ivan Ljubicic. He has otherwise been a standout player in the tournament.
