Novak Djokovic, the former world No. 1 and current ATP No. 4, suffered an early exit at the Rome Masters 1000 after falling to Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic (ranked 79th) with a scoreline of 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in his opening match of the tournament.
The encounter on Friday marked Djokovic’s much-anticipated return from a right shoulder injury sustained in early March, which forced him to miss the previous three Masters 1000 events in Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid. At 38 years old, the Serbian veteran was playing only his third tournament of the 2026 season, following a runner-up finish at the Australian Open and a fourth-round exit at Indian Wells.
Djokovic started convincingly, claiming the first set in 40 minutes with aggressive, offensive tennis. However, his game unraveled in the second set as he lost his serve twice in quick succession, falling 4-0 down before a late rally proved insufficient. Prizmic, 20, took the set 6-2. The deciding set remained balanced until 2-2, when Prizmic secured a crucial break. Despite strong support from the Roman crowd, Djokovic could not recover, and Prizmic closed out the match with an ace on his first match point.
“Honestly, I don’t think I played that badly,” Djokovic told reporters afterward. “It was a good battle, but obviously I see what I’m missing. I’m at half speed. I