Nole Achilles’ heel? The rare 2-0 nemesis awaits in Novak Djokovic’s Athens debut

Novak Djokovic is preparing for his return to the courts at the Hellenic Championship, facing a tough draw for his debut. Almost a month after his last appearance at the Shanghai Masters—where he suffered a surprise semi-final defeat to the eventual champion Valentin Vacherot—the Serb will face an opponent against whom he holds a negative H2H record of 0-2 so far.

His opponent will be none other than Chile's Alejandro Tabilo—the current World No. 89—who is coming off a tight debut match win against Australian Adam Walton. Tabilo is one of only three players who have faced Nole at least twice without losing. The others are Marat Safin and Jiří Veselý, both with the same 2-0 record, though the South American is the most recent to achieve it.

The former World No. 19 has suffered a steep drop in the rankings during 2025, amidst injuries and irregular results, but he has compensated with several interesting campaigns late in the year, including his third ATP title at the Chengdu Open. In Athens, he saved himself from near elimination, having been down 4-5 in the third set on his opponent's serve. The South American recovered, securing two consecutive breaks to take the victory 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.

"I am very happy to have been able to win these types of matches before. This time it will be different on hard court," Tabilo told ATPTour.com. "I just want to play a good match and, hopefully, maintain the advantage. But it's incredible to think about the 2-0 advantage against Djokovic."

Back in 2024, Tabilo was enjoying the best moment of his career during the clay swing, arriving at the Rome Open as the 29th seed. In the second round, he faced none other than the then-World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. In a seemingly unbalanced duel, Tabilo surprised the world by winning 6-2, 6-3 against Nole, as the Serb began to raise doubts about his level following several surprising defeats.

The opportunity for revenge arrived almost a year later, during April of this year at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Nole was returning to the court just over a week after the Miami Open final, and was again eliminated in straight sets by Tabilo, who was far from his best form this time. "I had an MRI and it turned out to be almost a stress fracture," Tabilo said. "So that was a pretty good win."

Tabilo will have the chance to make history this Tuesday against Novak Djokovic. No player has faced Djokovic three times without suffering a defeat. The former World No. 1 will seek to turn the tide, especially on hard courts this time, and with a likely very favorable crowd, given Athens is his new city of residence.

Tabilo, despite inconsistent results throughout the season, managed to secure his first title of the season and third of his career during the Asian swing at the Chengdu Open. It was an impressive run for the Chilean, after successfully navigating qualification. On his path to the title, he defeated 4th seed Brandon Nakashima, 2nd seed Luciano Darderi, and in the final, top seed Lorenzo Musetti—then World No. 9.

"I am very happy with the matches I have been able to play. It has been a difficult year with injuries and so on, so it has been hard to find the rhythm," Tabilo said. "I feel like I'm gradually getting better, even if it's the last tournament of the year. I hope to use this to have a good pre-season and arrive in good form for 2026."