Qualifier Dino Prizmic stuns childhood idol Novak Djokovic at the Italian Open

[p]It was the ‌first time [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/djokovic-novak/AZg49Et9/"]Djokovic[/a] lost his opening match ‌at the Italian Open in 19 appearances.[/p][p]The six-time champion, playing for the first time ‌since March, took the first set ⁠but was ‌outplayed by the increasingly aggressive 20-year-old who took ​control of the contest with powerful forehand winners.[/p][p][b]"Big respect for Novak, ​he's my idol, so it was definitely a great match for me,"[/b] said [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/prizmic-dino/YcluY2Zi/"]Prizmic[/a], ⁠who is ​79th in the rankings.[/p][p]Prizmic, who beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fucsovics-marton/GhQFzFli/"]Marton Fucsovics[/a] in the first round, raced to a 4-0 lead en route to winning ‌the second set.[/p][embed guid="ca626672-6197-4d1a-8ebc-d7c5939eca86" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2052817823341457517" social-type="twitter" /][p]The fourth-ranked Serb handed Prizmic the decisive break in the third set with two backhand errors. Prizmic held his nerves as he built on his 3-2 lead, and secured victory with an ace.[/p][p][b]"I played unbelievable. I just want to stay focused and to be ‌ready for the next one," [/b]said Prizmic, ​who also beat world number six [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shelton-ben/QNuG0Gzb/"]‌Ben Shelton[/a] at the Madrid Open last month.[/p][p]Djokovic will continue his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam at the French Open from May 24, ⁠two days after ⁠he turns 39.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/djokovic-n-AZg49Et9/prizmic-d-YcluY2Zi/?mid=YHXkTwUs"]Check out the match summary here[/a][/b].[/p]