Djokovic's blow: Luca Nardi and his controversial point committing "hindrance" that left the Serbian speechless

20 years old and a 'lucky loser', the Italian

Luca Nardi

(123 in the ATP ranking) gave a historic blow this Monday by eliminating the Serbian

Novak Djokovic

, 1 in the world ranking, in the third round of the

Indian

Wells

Masters 1000

.

The game had everything, and also a controversial, or at least curious, play.

It was when Nole made a beginner's mistake and fell innocent?

trap of the Italian kid.

Djokovic

served with a break point against him and

Nardi

returned as if the ball had gone out.

The Serbian continued the point but

thinking that the ball had gone

, and there the tano accelerated and finished into the net, taking the game to recover the break at the start of the second set.

What happened?

Djokovic was left protesting at the net with the

umpire

while Nardi sat in his chair to cool off, without realizing what had happened.

UNUSUAL MOMENT IN #INDIANWELLS.

😬

🇮🇹 Nardi threatened to stop playing the point, 🇷🇸 Djokovic stopped and the Italian BROKE in this way.

pic.twitter.com/0aty2nz83n

— ESPN Tennis (@ESPNtenis) March 12, 2024

In tennis there is a rule called "

hintrance

", whose literal translation into Spanish would be "obstacle" or "hindrance".

It is sanctioned when the judge considers that one of the players performs some action to distract or harm his rival.

The day before, coincidentally, also in Indian Wells,

Francisco Cerúndolo

lost a point for "hindrance" against the local

Ben Shelton

, when he spoke after hitting the ball: the Argentine thought that his backhand had gone when in reality it had gone in and the American the rally continued.

"Hindrance," the umpire exclaimed, causing Cerúndolo to smile, resigned to his mistake.

The same did not happen with Nardi and Djokovic, and although the Serbian ended up taking that second set, the play would end up being in all the summaries.

Nardi beat Djokovic, five-time champion of this tournament, 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 after entering the main draw as a 'lucky loser' despite his defeat in the qualifications against the Belgian

David Goffin

.

The Italian became the fourth lowest-ranked player to beat a world number one.

The record belongs to the Spanish

Francisco Clavet

, who beat the Australian

Lleyton Hewitt

in 2003, in Miami.

Djokovic came to this event after a hard-fought victory against the Australian

Aleksandar Vukic

, which allowed him to reach 400 wins in his career in the

Masters 1000

.

Nardi will face the American Tommy Paul

(number 17) in the round of 16

, who triumphed 6-4, 6-4 against the Frenchman

Ugo Humbert

(14).