Novak Djokovic's season reached a new low with the defending champion falling to a crushing defeat to Dominic Thiem in the French Open quarter-finals and the Serb admitted he was struggling to find a solution to stop the slide.
Novak Djokovic. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Djokovic, who turned 30 last month, will drop outside the top two for the first time since march 2011 on Monday -- quite a contrast to a year ago when his domination of men's tennis was complete after winning the French Open for the first time.
Since then he has bagged only two titles and in grand slam there has been a worrying decline.
After losing to Stan Wawrinka in the U.S. Open final he suffered a second-round defeat at the Australian Open to 117th-ranked Denis Istomin. On Wednesday, with a 32nd grand slam semi-final looming, he fell apart against Thiem, losing 7-6(5) 6-3 6-0.
"You know, it's obviously tough to get out of it and figure out the way how to move ahead," Djokovic, who appeared to give up against Thiem in a 20-minute third set, told reporters.
"At least I'm trying. You know, I'm trying to get better, trying to be on a high level again.
"For me, it's a whole new situation that I'm facing, especially in the last seven, eight months, not winning any tournament, which hasn't happened in many years.
"All the top players have been through it. So I guess you've got to go through it, learn your lessons and figure out the way. It's a big challenge, but I'm up for it."
Djokovic split with Boris Becker towards the end of last year as his number one ranking was about to disappear.
Last month he then parted company with his long-term coaching team of Marian Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsch and physio Miljan Amanovic, saying he needed to try and rediscover his spark.
Shortly before setting out to try and defend the French Open he announced that he had got together with eight-time major champion Andre Agassi, although the American was only in Paris for a week and missed Djokovic's defeat by Thiem.
Djokovic said he hoped his relationship with Agassi, who famously recovered from a slump to win several majors after his 30th birthday, would help him return to form.
"Don't put Andre in the midst of this. This final set, of course, that's all me," Djokovic said.
"As I have mentioned before several times when you guys ask me about his influence and impact on my game, it's gonna take time.
"It's not something that comes out in the first week. We have spent seven days together. We just got to know each other.
"Obviously he didn't want to give me too much information when the tournament started. We will see where it takes us."
Meanwhile there were no such problems for world No.1 Andy Murray and nine-times champion Rafael Nadal, who both advanced to the semi-finals.
Murray shrugged off a sluggish start to reach his fifth French Open final four with a 2-6 6-1 7-6(0) 6-1 defeat of Japan's Kei Nishikori.
He'll play Stan Warwrinka in the semi-finals.
Nadal has broken lots of records in his career but they do not matter to the Spaniard, who on strolled into the semi-finals after compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta quit with an injury less than an hour into the match.
Nadal, bidding for a record-extending 10th title at Roland Garros, was leading 6-2 2-0 when Carreno Busta decided he could not continue after receiving lengthy treatment for an abdominal muscle injury at the end of the first set.
Nadal, who next faces Austrian Dominic Thiem after he knocked out holder Djokovic, has spent only about eight hours on court, dropping 22 games, to reach his 10th French Open semi with his 100th win in a best-of-five sets match on clay.
-Reuters
