Djokovic crashes out in Brisbane

Novak Djokovic's preparations for the defence of his Australian Open title suffered an unexpected setback when the Serb was knocked out of the Brisbane International in the first round.

The 21-year-old world number three lost his debut match at the brand new Pat Rafter Arena to former training partner Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4 6-4.

The result means Djokovic, who claimed his maiden grand slam title in Melbourne 12 months ago, may begin this year's tournament on 19 January with only one competitive match under his belt this season.
'I am not panicking,' Djokovic told reporters.

'The Australian Open is my highest goal for this part of the year and I really want to play well there.

'It's not the end of the world. It's the first match, so I'm not going to be pessimistic.

'I have a lot of time now to prepare for the Aussie Open.'

The top seed was the latest leading player to make an early exit from the co-sanctioned event, joining Marcos Baghdatis, Daniela Hantuchova, Francesca Schiavone and Ai Sugiyama, who were all beaten on Monday.

RTE