Novak Djokovic was at a loss to explain his one-sided defeat on Wednesday night against an inspired David Ferrer at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Djokovic has been far from his best this week and his form was brutally exposed by an inspired Ferrer who simply outhustled him from start to finish to book his place in Saturday's semi-finals.
Djokovic was simply dismantled 6-3, 6-1 as Ferrer ran him ragged from side to side and the world number one just didn't have the patience or the game to handle it, contributing to his own downfall with 33 unforced errors.
"At this level you know that you have to deliver your best tennis," Djokovic admitted frankly. "I wasn't on my best in the first match, but I managed to kind of get into the rhythm in the second set. This match, I have no words to explain. Nothing was going really [for me]. Nothing was going well."
"All the credit to [Ferrer], he played great match. "He was playing smart, changing rhythm. You always can kind of expect and predict what he's going to come up on the court with. He doesn't drop with the level that much. He's always focused, always fighting for each point. He's a great player. He deserved to win. It was the worst match I've played this season so far definitely. So many unforced errors. I'm not playing well - that's a fact."
Djokovic now faces a must-win clash with his close friend Janko Tipsarevic on Friday if he's going to keep his hopes alive of winning the title for a second time.
