Novak Djokovic is back. The Serbian player, who was expelled from Australia in January for not getting vaccinated , going against the country’s public health and being used as an anti-vaccine icon, opens his clay court tour on Tuesday. He does it at the Masters 1,000 in Monte Carlo, where he will play against the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich.
In Monaco, Djokovic shares the limelight, for very different reasons, with Carlos Alcaraz, recent champion in Miami and who will face the American Sebastian Korda in his first match this Wednesday. Nadal is still sidelined as a result of his rib stress fracture.
Djokovic, who still holds the leadership of the world ranking despite his inactivity, has not competed for a month and a half, since he participated in the Dubai tournament on hard court. But, in addition, he has barely played a total of three games throughout the season.
The Serbian player, after his expulsion from Australia, also missed the 1,000 Masters in Indian Wells and Miami —due to his refusal to get vaccinated and thus not being able to enter the United States—, which will end up affecting his position in the world ranking .
Now he opens the dirt tour, at 34 years old, with two victories without greater pomp than those achieved in Dubai against Lorenzo Musetti and Karen Khachanov, before losing to the Czech Jiri Vesely. A few weeks later, he announced his breakup with his longtime coach, Marian Vajda, with whom he had spent the last 15 years, except for a brief hiatus.
“The last four or five months have been a challenge for me, both physically and emotionally,” acknowledges Djokovic, who also plans to compete in Madrid and Rome in preparation for Roland Garros.
The Serbian player acknowledges that perhaps in these first clay court tournaments he will pay the toll of his inactivity and poor shooting.