"It hurts that I lost" - Novak Djokovic lavishly praises victorious opponent while regretting missed opportunity

Novak Djokovic was unbeaten in his last eight matches against Jan-Lennard Struff at the Swiss Indoors. That impressive record has come crashing down with a disastrous 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-6(5) defeat to the German, bringing him back to reality with consecutive early defeats another concern. He was ‘hurt’ after the match as he looks towards the next task at hand.

Djokovic was a late entry in Basel, competing for the first time in 2011. He was the 2009 champion but would need to be immaculate if he was going to continue that fine form from prior years.

This is a very different Djokovic. The 39-year-old still oozes with class and precision, but fitness and health concerns can prove to be costly in key moments and leave him vulnerable on court. That has been seen numerous times in 2026.

His recent results have fluctuated. He exited the Cincinnati Open and US Open at the first hurdle, his worst Grand Slam result in over two decades as he tried to keep the emotions intact on court. He then sent a resounding message to his critics as he won the China Open for the seventh time, continuing the immaculate unbeaten record in Beijing. Since then, he has managed just one win.

A second round defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in Shanghai left him with time to ponder. A return to Basel seemed like the sensible thing to do with the Six Kings Slam having been postponed and the Serbian outlining his ambitions of featuring at the ATP Finals. He took down Ugo Humbert in three sets after initially trailing before walking on court to face Struff.

He had only dropped one set against his fellow veteran, and it seemed that everything was going to plan. No breaks were witnessed in the first set as the 24-time Grand Slam champion won the first set with a tiebreak.

It looked that a similar fate would occur straight after, but at the 24th time of trying, a break of serve was finally completed. Except it was not going the way of Djokovic but to Struff as she struck late to force a decider. This was helped by three uncharacteristic double faults at a pivotal time for Djokovic, coming in costly.

Two break points were created, both by Djokovic, and both were missed as a tiebreak was once again needed to split these valiant competitors. Struff, who is three years younger than Djokovic, led 6-3 before a third match point was converted for a famous win and a spot in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic was visibly frustrated after the match. A golden opportunity to gain traction in the Race to Turin was wasted and he could only watch on as the deficit grows to some of his rivals. When speaking to Sportal afterwards, he did not believe that the sloppy segment at the end of the second set commenced his downfall in Basel.

“No, I don't think those three double service faults were the deciding factor,” he said. “I think it's just that in the decisive moments, when I had break points, many times in the second and also at the beginning of the third set, he played some incredible shots and incredible points.”

He gave a huge amount of credit to his opponent. “Maybe there were one or two points where I could have been more aggressive, but all credit goes to him. It hurts that I lost, you know, he just played amazing tennis. I don't remember playing against someone who was this aggressive and this precise. He went with two first serves and it was just one of those matches.”

He will be competing at the Paris Masters next week. It was the scene of his last Masters 1000 title almost two years ago. “I've only just come off the court so I'm still disappointed, but I'll be thinking about Paris in the next few days and hopefully I can play better there,” he concluded.