Top 10 Stories from the 2017 Australian Open
By Isobel Moody
6. Djokovic-Istomin Second-Round Shocker
Novak Djokovic may not be what he was at this time last year. He may have suffered multiple disappointments from Wimbledon onward, and lost the number one ranking. He may now be someone who sometimes loses. But no one in their right mind expected him to lose to Denis Istomin in the second round. Istomin, an Uzbek tennis player who turned 30 back in September, was once ranked 33rd in the world. But that was back in 2012, and he’s now ranked outside the top 100. Plus he’d never beaten Djokovic in five tries, two of them in Melbourne.
But Djokovic didn’t play his best. And Istomin did. He had Djokovic fighting back from a break down, before coming back in the tiebreak to take the first set. Djokovic managed to grab the next two, Istomin fading in the third, at which point everyone expected a routine four-set win for the Serb. But the fourth set was the first set redux: Istomin, now playing through cramps and bad feet, got up a break, got broken back, then won another tiebreak. And in the fifth set, when he went up a break once more, he stayed up, serving out the upset of the tournament.
What this bodes for Djokovic is uncertain. It could just be a blip, or a signal of more woes to come. His next tournaments might be telling.
Istomin won another five-setter before pulling a hamstring in the fourth round against Dmitrov, a painful way to lose in more than one respect. Even then, though, he stayed on court and played the match out, letting Dmitrov earn his win.
The only shock that could top that required two upsets to happen…