Novak Djokovic dealt another crushing defeat, suffers final set thrashing to Tomas Machac at Geneva Open

Novak Djokovic will not reach his first final of the season or seal his opening title of 2024 going into Roland Garros and perhaps again has questions instead of answers after being thrashed in a deciding set against Tomas Machac.

Machac is a tricky operator and perhaps fits the mould of previous conquerors of the World No.1 as of late including Alejandro Tabilo, Luca Nardi among others of simply having no fear and a real guile about their court craft in not getting caught up in the locker room aura. That perhaps is what has gone missing for the imperious Serbian in recent months as players have taken advantage of an inferior version of the tennis great.

This 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 win though for Machac was very much a tale of two halves as the old football adage goes as Machac sealed the opening set 6-4. But he came from 4-1 down to do so winning five games in a row to nick the opener and send Djokovic into meltdown. So much so that the World No.1 called the trainer looking physically cooked.

But Djokovic as he always does came back into the fray albeit he didn't see the job through. He won the second set in a Iga Swiatek type bagel 6-0. But the final set was won with consummate ease from Machac 6-1. It is a first tour final for him and he could face Casper Ruud or Flavio Cobolli who will face off shortly.

Djokovic only held his serve once in the final set and despite holding a 40-0 advantage in the final game. Machac turned it around to seal it 6-1 on advantage and move through to the final. Djokovic in reality looked like he wanted to be anywhere but Geneva this afternoon. He now heads to Paris and while he succeeded in getting matches in, it still shows that he is vulnerable to losses against lower ranked players. More questions than answers certainly for the World No.1.