Novak Djokovic’s absence from the ATP Tour looks set to continue for at least another couple of weeks as he has hinted that he could miss the Italian Open although there is better news with regards to the French Open.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner has played only nine matches this year with six coming at the Australian Open – one of his encounters was a walkover – and three at the Miami Open with his last competitive clash on 12 March when he lost against Jack Draper in the round of 16 in Florida.
Having already missed the Monte Carlo Masters, Djokovic also confirmed last week that he would not take part in this week’s Madrid Open due to an unconfirmed injury.
The Italian Open is the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament on clay before Roland Garros, but if the world No 4’s latest comments are anything to go by, then he won’t be in Rome.
“I have an injury, I hope to be ready at least for Roland Garros. I’m working to get to Rome but I can’t make a prediction now because it depends on the progress of the injury. At least for Roland Garros I’m ready,” he told Spanish media during the Laureus World Sports Awards.
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If he does indeed head to Roland Garros without playing any warm-up events on clay, it will be the first time in his career that he has done so as he has always played at least one ATP 1000 event before competing in Paris.
Last year, Djokovic played six matches spread across three tournaments on clay before the French Open as he lost his opening matches at the Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open before winning four matches at the Geneva Open, where he won the ATP 250 trophy.
The Serbian then went on to reach the semi-final in Paris before losing in straight sets against then world No 1 Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic, of course, still has an option to defend his title in Switzerland this year with the tournament starting on 17 May with the final set for 23 May, one day before Roland Garros gets underway.
As things stand, he is not on the entry list with Taylor Fritz, Alexander Bublik and Casper Ruud the top-20 players who have been confirmed by tournament organisers. However, he was also not on the list 12 months ago before receiving a late direct entry.
But Djokovic is no stranger to not playing any warm-up tournaments before Grand Slams as he didn’t enter any ATP events before this year’s Australian Open and still reached the final, losing against Carlos Alcaraz.
He also didn’t play any events before last year’s US Open and Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals of both of those Grand Slams.
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