Following his surprising second round defeat at the Indian Wells Masters the 36-year-old world No.1 from Serbia, has decided not to contest the Miami Maters which starts on Tuesday.
He announced his decision on Saturday, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, declaring he was ‘balancing my private and professional schedule’.
“Hi Miami! Unfortunately, I won’t be playing the Miami Open this year,” Djokovic tweeted.
“At this stage of my career, I’m balancing my private and professional schedule. I’m sorry that I won’t experience some of the best and most passionate fans in the world.
“I’m looking fw [forward to} competing in MI [Miami] in future!”
So far this season he has only competed in three events, the United Cup, the Australian Open and Indian Wells last week, winning just 8 matches in total. In those weeks he lost his Australian Open title to Jannik Sinner in the semis who went on to pick up the title, and mor embarrassingly, lost to the then world No.123, Jiri Lehecka, the young Czech playing on a Lucky Loser ticket, in round two at the Tennis Paradise!
He readily admitted that his loss to Lehecka had been ‘a very poor performance’ by him having also described his defeat in Melbourne as ‘one of the worst Grand Slam matches’ of his career’!
Considering that last year he won seven titles, losing only seven matches in what was one of his most successful years in the 20 he has played as a professional tennis player.
The draw for the Miami Open will take place on Monday, March 18 ahead of the tournament at the Hard Rock Stadium complex but will not feature the six-time winner of the event.
The two Indian Wells finalists will certainly feature, Daniil Medvedev as defending champion and Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 champion, as well as the world No.3 Jannik Sinner, the Australian Open champion and last year’s finalist who is looking to clinch the title for the first time after two runners-up finishes.
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