Novak Djokovic has made no secret that winning a second Davis Cup title with Serbia is one of his last big goals in tennis and his country’s captain is hoping he will make himself available for their crucial tie in early 2026.
The tennis great has played a reduced schedule the past two years as he vowed to play only tournaments that are important to him and the Davis Cup and Olympics are at the very top of his list as he stated: “My main priorities are playing for the national team and Slams, everything else is less important.”
But he was unable to represent Serbia at the tournament this year as an injury he picked up at the Australian Open forced him to withdraw from their first-round qualifier against Denmark in February. They ended up losing the tie 3-2 and, thus, didn’t feature in the second round qualifiers or the Davis Cup Finals Elite 8 in Malaga in November.
The draw for the 2026 first-round qualifiers has already been made and the European country will travel to South America as they will take on Chile on clay.
In an interview with El Mercurio, Serbia captain Victor Troicki was asked about Djokovic being part of the squad and replied: “It is too early to say if Novak will be on the team.
“Definitely with him, we would be one of the strongest teams, and Novak has already helped us many times by winning his matches.”
Next year’s first-round qualifiers will be staged immediately after the 2026 Australian Open as it will take place from February 6-8 and a trip to South America will be tricky for most players who make deep runs at the season-opening Grand Slam.
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Troicki added: “We have to see after the Australian Open, depending on the result, how he fares and how he feels.”
With or without Djokovic, Serbia can expect a tough encounter in Chile with the tie likely to take place on the red dirt.
“We assume the matches will be played on clay… some of our tennis players usually go to South America to play the Latin America Swing, so they are adapted to the clay court,” the former ATP star said. “It’s a very difficult series for both nations… I know how involved the crowd can be there.”
Djokovic and Troicki were both part of the Serbia team that won their first and only title in 2010 when they defeated France 3-2 in the final in Belgrade.
The former world No 1 won both his singles rubbers while Troicki won one singles encounter to hand Serbia the ultimate prize.
Djokovic also featured in the finals in 2013 and he again won both his singles matches, but this time Serbia lost 2-3 against the Czech Republic.
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