Alejandro Tabilo reveals first conversation with his girlfriend after stunning Novak Djokovic win
Alejandro Tabilo has admitted he was struggling to find the words to express his emotions after his remarkable win against Novak Djokovic at the Italian Open.
Djokovic was beaten 6-2 6-3 in just 67 minutes by Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in Rome, the six-time champion committing 22 unforced errors, serving five double faults and failing to create a single break point.
The one-sided hammering came two days after Djokovic collapsed to the ground after being struck by a bottle which fell from a spectator’s backpack as the world number one signed autographs following his win over Corentin Moutet.
While the post-mortem into one of the worst performances of Djokovic’s remarkable career will rumble on for several days, Tabilo will forever have the name of the greatest player of all-time on his list of victims.
As he tried to come to terms with the magnitude of his achievement, he struggled to find the words to sum up what may forever be the greatest win of his career.
“Right now just trying to believe it a little bit,” said Tabilo. “It’s incredible. I came on court just looking around, just trying to soak it all in and trying to process everything. I’m just trying to wake up right now.”
“I’ve been talking with my family, my girlfriend, all my friends in Chile right now. Just can’t believe it.
“Soaking it all in with my team. Still trying to process it. It’s been incredible. So hopefully we can just refresh and then come back on Tuesday with everything.
“Just being able to beat Novak today, him being No 1 in the world, it’s surreal right now.
READ MORE: Every word from a worrying Novak Djokovic press conference after Italian Open drubbing
“After the first set, I was pretty happy. I was playing incredible tennis. Just wanted to keep that level. With Novak, it’s always so tough with the physical side. I knew perfectly it could go for a third set in any moment.
“I don’t know. I think I started to kind of believe bit by bit when I was 3-2, 4-3 there, almost trying to close out the match.
“The whole match I was just trying to take it point by point, not think about the score. Every point was like the start of the match. I think that helped a lot, let me play a little bit more relaxed.
https://twitter.com/tennis365com/status/1789726456710344807
When asked to expand on the conversation he had with his girlfriend after his win against Djokovic he added: “At the beginning I couldn’t say anything. It was an unbelievable feeling. I had no words.
“There with my girlfriend and my family, they were both kind of emotional, a little tearing up.
It’s been crazy. It’s been a crazy ride, especially with my family. So many sacrifices. I left at such an early age. They know what it’s taken to get here. Hopefully I can just keep going and keep with this confidence.”
The victory was impressive on so many levels for Tabilo, who became the second player from Chile to defeat the World No.1 in ATP-1000 events after Fernando Gonzalez who defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the Hamburg Masters 2003 since the introduction of the format in 1990.
