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Novak Djokovic believes he must accept the “new reality” of his continuous physical struggles in the latter part of his career as his return to competition after an injury-ravaged clay-court season ended in a second-round Italian Open loss to the young Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, who recovered courageously from a set down to topple his idol 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic has not competed since the Indian Wells Masters event two months ago, his only other tournament since his spectacular run to the Australian Open final. As the fourth seed in Rome, he received a first-round bye. Despite starting the match positively, the 38-year-old was outplayed by his 20-year-old opponent, who wore the Serb down physically and played bold tennis to escape with the greatest victory of his career.

“It’s not an ideal preparation, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “I don’t recall the last time I had in the last couple of years a preparation where I didn’t have any kind of physical issues or health issues coming into the tournament. There’s always something. Kind of a new reality that I have to deal with. It is frustrating. At the same time it’s my decision to still perform in that kind of state and conditions. It is what it is.”

Prizmic is a brilliant athlete armed with excellent defensive skills, shot tolerance and rapid injections of pace off both wings. As he dragged Djokovic into a stream of long, attritional rallies, his elder opponent simply could not keep up. Djokovic, whose shoulder was taped, was clearly struggling physically as he quickly found himself down 0-4 in the second set. Once the complexion of the match had changed, Djokovic could not find his way back.

Out of respect for his opponent, Djokovic opted not to elaborate on his physical issues in a short press conference immediately after his defeat. He reserved his most expansive comments on the match for Prizmic, who he said had improved since they first faced each other.

“He’s a great competitor, great fighter, a great kid,” said Djokovic. “I’ve known him for some years. Obviously we speak the same language, so I always wish him all the best. Today he has definitely performed high-level tennis. I told him at the net that his forehand improved a lot. Whatever he has been doing with his team is working out well. He should just keep going.”

Having lost his opening match at both the Monte Carlo and Madrid Masters events last year, this is the second year in a row that Djokovic will head to Roland Garros having failed to win a single match in any of the three ATP Masters clay-court events.

Last year, a last-minute wildcard at the Geneva Open provided Djokovic with enough matchplay to make a solid run to the semi-finals, where he lost in three tight sets to Jannik Sinner. However, Djokovic said on Friday that he will not attempt to compete in the week before the French Open this year. Asked whether he believes he will be in good shape by Paris, Djokovic said he was uncertain. “I don’t know,” he said, smiling. “I hope so. Let’s see what happens.”