Novak Djokovic withdraws from the 2024 Miami Open; Cite Needs to Balance Schedule.
This year’s Miami Open will not feature Novak Djokovic on the court.
Announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 Miami Open, the top-ranked male tennis player gave the excuse that he needed to balance his “private and professional schedule.”
With his most recent triumph occurring in 2016, Djokovic has won the competition six times. At Indian Wells on Monday, Luca Nardi defeated him in the second round.
Given that Nardi was ranked No. 123 prior to the match, the defeat to them was particularly noteworthy.
According to Tennis 365, this is the lowest-ranked opponent Djokovic has ever lost to at the ATP Masters 1000 or Grand Slam level.
Even though he is 8-2 on the year, Djokovic has not yet won a championship. He is still the top-ranked player and has previously stated that as he ages, he will participate in fewer competitions.
A medal at the Olympics in Paris in 2024 is another goal that he has high hopes for.
ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe told Adam Zagoria of Forbes that “Novak is looking at the bigger picture…
focusing on the red clay season (particularly Paris coming up), then Wimbledon, and then back to Paris for the Olympic Games again on clay.” “Novak is desperate for a medal.”
Djokovic defeated Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Australian Open in January 2023, despite winning three of the four majors that year.
On March 22, the Miami Open is scheduled to start.
After Carlos Alcaraz’s strong performance at Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic’s top spot in the world is in jeopardy.
Having missed the two Masters 1000 events in 2019 and therefore having no points to defend, Novak Djokovic used the Sunshine Double—Indian Wells and Miami Open—to rack up points and solidify his position as the world No.
1 going into the clay season. But after an unexpected third-round exit in California and a decision to withdraw from the Miami Open,
The Serb finds himself in a precarious position in the race to maintain the top ranking prior to the start of the clay season, where he will defend the French Open title.
In the third round of the Indian Wells tournament last week, lucky loser Luca Nardi, who idolized the 24-time Grand Slam winner growing up, stunned Djokovic and finished with just 50 points.
Although Djokovic’s unusual start to the year—he usually starts the year with an Australian Open victory—left experts wondering about his future in the game,
The Serbian player stated that he would like to end his trophy-free start to 2024 in Miami.
However, he announced a few days later that he had to balance his “private and professional schedule” and withdrew from the competition.
What is the current standing of world No. 1 after Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Miami Open?
When the Miami Masters 1000 concludes on March 31, the 36-year-old will undoubtedly hold the top spot on the ATP chart.
This would suggest that he would add 420 weeks to his total time as the world’s top player.
But with the Indian Wells trophy haul, Carlos Alcaraz won his first championship since Wimbledon last year, and the Spaniard is now only 920 points behind Djokovic (9725 points).
Having advanced to the semifinals last year, Alcaraz will be defending 640 points in Miami next week.
If he pulls off a Sunshine double at the end of the month, he will reduce the deficit to just 280 points, bringing his total to 9445 points.
This would therefore suggest that the top spot in the world will be up for grabs when the clay season in Monte Carlo begins.
As a result of missing the competition the year before, Alcaraz and Djokovic will not be defending any points at the first major event of the European clay swing in April.
