When the Serve Fell in Paris, the Turin Ticket Broke: Qualifier Hijikata Stops 39-Year-Old Djokovic

Novak Djokovic had everything under control after winning the first set 6-2 on the hard indoor courts in Paris. But in the second set, that same pattern broke down — the score had turned to 3-6, 3-6, and by the time the match ended, one more major result was confirmed: the 24-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time ATP Finals winner would not qualify for Turin this year. Paris Masters was the season's final qualifying window, and a second-round loss meant the season's final chapter would end without him in it.

To understand the full story of this match, one must first understand Rinky Hijikata. He came through qualifying — three extra matches already played before reaching the main draw. For a world No. 83, this season has already been the best of his career: four top-20 wins in 2026 compared to zero before. At 28, this isn't a teenage prospect's rise but a player crossing the threshold of maturity. And before the match, he had a neck complaint — he nearly withdrew, but adrenaline masked the pain.

After the match, Djokovic himself admitted Hijikata was "playing out of his mind" — keeping the ball low and not missing. This is no coincidence. The greatest asset of indoor hard courts is their low bounce, and this is exactly the surface that hurts a rhythm-dependent counter-puncher the most. What Hijikata did was simple but precise: he kept the ball below knee height, deprived Djokovic of both height and time, and forced him to generate pace himself. Djokovic's real problem was his serve after the first set — he said, "I wasn't serving as well in the second set and completely lost control."

What's worth noting here is that Djokovic's loss is not just one round's defeat. His season shows two entirely different pictures: reaching the Australian Open final in January, winning his 102nd ATP title in Beijing last month — and now completely out of the race for the year's final eight. This is the stage of age I call the "big-stage residual": the ability to sustain two weeks at a Grand Slam remains, but week-to-week consistency is declining. A serve collapse doesn't mean just a bad day, not when a player is 39 and not a single 1000-level event is going his way.

There's a twist here that the media crowd seized quickly and just as quickly ran ahead with. The story became that a qualifier beat a legend. The fact is correct, but the conclusion is still incomplete. Hijikata's next opponent is Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who beat Australia's No. 9 Alex de Minaur in straight sets. Etcheverry's clay-rooted, heavy-topspin game is the exact opposite of the flat, low-ball template that troubled Djokovic. That means the weapon that worked yesterday may not prove as effective tomorrow — and this is the only way to tell whether this surge is sustainable or just one week's fire.

For me, the most interesting thing in this whole sequence isn't the scoreline, but the fact that this win puts Hijikata within one win of a career-high — a place in the top 60. And that win must come in a match where his style is already somewhat stuck, and his neck remains a weak point. The fatigue of three qualifying matches, then playing four top-20 players, then winning through a neck complaint — all of it creates a situation that any physio would approach with caution. In a long tournament, the body is often not the last variable that causes a loss, but for a qualifier it becomes the first variable that can take him away from a win.

For Djokovic, the question ahead is whether his team will now adopt a strategy of shortening the season and focusing only on Grand Slams. If it continues that way in 2027, his ranking base will only thin further — and that is the direction that first appeared as an absence from Turin. For Hijikata, the next court will be fate's decision, and whatever happens, this year has already been the best of his career — only one question remains: will the top-60 spot be the reward for his performances, or will the neck pain he has take it away from him in the next few days?