Novak Djokovic smashed his racket, tore his shirt and raged at the chair umpire as he was stunned in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals by Roberto Bautista yesterday.
The defending champion and 12-time Grand Slam champion was broken once in the first set and three times in the second as he lost 6-4, 6-4 in his first defeat to the Spaniard.
Djokovic has been out of sorts since he won his first French Open title in June, losing early at Wimbledon and the Olympics and complaining that he had lost motivation.
The 29-year-old Serb, whose top ranking is under threat from Andy Murray, hummed to keep his spirits up during his quarter-final escape against German qualifier Mischa Zverev.
However, the three-time champion failed to keep his cool in a stormy appearance at Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Tennis Center as he suffered a rare defeat in China.
Nineteenth-ranked Bautista put away two brilliant forehands as he fought off break points in the ninth game and he pounced as Djokovic was serving to stay in the first set.
A sublime disguised lob set up break point and when Djokovic fired wide to hand over the set, he snapped and repeatedly slammed his racket into the deck.
Djokovic grabbed a towel and cleaned up splinters from his racket as the second set got under way, but tempers frayed again at 1-1 over a serve he said was long.
“Are you seeing anything today? Are you seeing anything?” said the Serb, gesticulating at Brazilian chair umpire Carlos Bernardes.
Murray and Gilles Simon played last night to decide who would meet Bautista in Sunday’s final.
At press time, Murray was leading 3-0 in the second set after taking the first 6-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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