Tag: Djokovic

 Former world number one Novak Djokovic will play at the Shanghai Masters event next month, tournament organisers  have announced.

“He’s back… Our 4-time champ will return to Shanghai this year,” organisers posted on social media ahead of the event’s start on October 1.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion has not played in an official match since his defeat in the semi-finals of the US Open to Carlos Alcaraz earlier in September.

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Following that loss, the 38-year-old remained vague about his schedule for the end of the season, having played significantly fewer tournaments in 2025 than in previous years.

The world number four had only committed to playing the 250 event in Athens from November 2-8, which replaced the Belgrade tournament on this year’s calendar.

His participation in the Paris Masters (October 27-November 2) and the ATP Finals in Turin (November 9-16) – the two biggest tournaments scheduled after Shanghai – is yet to be confirmed.

Djokovic won the Shanghai tournament in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018.

Novak Djokovic has warned world number one Jannik Sinner that he is ready to go the distance in their blockbuster Wimbledon semi-final tomorrow, July 11^th .

Djokovic beat Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6⁄8), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday to reach a record 14th men’s semi-final at the All England Club.

The 38-year-old is bidding to win a record 25th Grand Slam title and a record-equalling eighth men’s Wimbledon crown.

But Djokovic will have to overcome two huge hurdles to make history, with top seed Sinner lying in wait in the last four before a potential final showdown with Carlos Alcaraz, who has beaten the Serb in the last two Wimbledon finals.

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Djokovic will be facing Sinner for the 10^th  time, with the Italian holding a 5-4 edge after four successive wins.

Sinner won in straight sets in the French Open semi-finals recently, although Djokovic triumphed in their two meetings on grass at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023.

 “I lost in straight sets to Jannik in the semis of Roland Garros. I think I played a solid match. I could have played better, but he was just better player when the moments were important,” Djokovic said.

 “So I get another opportunity. For me, this is what counts actually the most. Being in the last stages of Grand Slams and playing against the best player in the world right now.

 “Him and Alcaraz are the leaders of the tennis today. I couldn’t ask for a bigger challenge, for sure. I look forward to it.”

At an age when his contemporaries have largely retired, Djokovic still relishes the chance to prove himself against the next generation, insisting he is in good enough shape to go five sets against Sinner if needed.

 “I just try to focus on my recovery right now, getting my body in shape for very physical battle, so I can fight with him for as long as it’s necessary,” he said.

 “Hopefully I can deliver the level and be able to stay with him for potentially five sets, because it’s going to take the best of me at the moment to beat Jannik.”

Djokovic suffered an injury scare when he tumbled in the closing stages of his win over Cobolli, but he is confident of recovering in time to face Sinner.

“It was a nasty fall. It was very awkward. That happens on the grass. I’ve had quite a few of those throughout my grass court career,” he said.

 “Obviously, my body is not the same today like it was before, so I guess the real impact or effect of what happened I will feel tomorrow. So let’s see.

 “I’m hoping the next 24, 48 hours that the severity of what was happening on the court and what happened is not too bad, that I’ll be able to play at my best and free of pain in two days.”

Djokovic hasn’t won a Grand Slam since the US Open in 2023.

 Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 16^th  time but it proved a hard day’s work at his Centre Court office as he ground past Australian Alex de Minaur .

The 38-year-old started abysmally and lost the opening set in 31 minutes but eventually assumed control of a cagey battle to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to keep alive his quest for an unprecedented 25^th  Grand Slam title.

With Roger Federer watching from the front row of the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men’s titles Djokovic is trying to equal, the sixth seed’s usually surgical game malfunctioned early on as he dropped serve three times.

The hustling and bustling De Minaur continued to cause Djokovic headaches with his shot-placement and movement but the Serb found his range to win the next two sets full of attritional baseline rallies.

Even then Djokovic looked like getting dragged into a fifth set as De Minaur jumped 4-1 ahead in the fourth and had a point for a 5-1 lead, but he slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight where he will face Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cabolli.

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“I don’t know how I’m feeling to be honest. I’m still trying to process the whole match and what happened on the court. It wasn’t a great start for me, it was a great start for Alex,” a weary Djokovic said on court. “He was just managing the play better from the back of the court and I didn’t have many solutions. I was very pleased to hang tough in the right moments and win this one.”

Djokovic has now won 43 of his last 45 matches at Wimbledon and not since 2017 has he failed to reach the final.

The two losses were against Carlos Alcaraz in the last two finals, but for half an hour on Monday it looked as though Old Father Time might finally be catching up with him.

Djokovic had never met the man nicknamed ‘Demon’ on a grass court after last year’s quarter-final between them never happened when the Australian withdrew with a hip injury.

He predicted beforehand that the 26-year-old would be a handful on the surface and he was proved right.

With a relaxed Federer watching in an immaculate blue suit and shades, Djokovic’s game crumbled into a heap of double-faults, errant forehands and clumsy footwork.

“Sometimes I wish I had a serve and volley, and a nice touch from the gentleman that’s there. That would help,” Djokovic said of his old rival after sealing his 101st Wimbledon win in a grinding three hours and 19 minutes.

“It’s probably the first time he sees me and I win. The last two I lost. It’s good to break the curse.”

De Minaur’s game plan seemed to be to drag Djokovic into cat and mouse rallies and initially it worked.

But Djokovic rebooted his computer-like brain and chipped away at the Australian who must have believed he could snap his 10-match losing streak against top-10 players.

Djokovic won a 34-stroke rally early in the second set but with service breaks being traded like a plummeting stock and Federer heading off for afternoon tea he simply could not shake off the tenacious De Minaur.

Serving at 5-4, Djokovic had to save two break points before levelling the match. He looked more like his dominant best to control the third set and having not lost a two sets to one lead since 2010 it seemed like victory was a formality.

There was another twist though and it was a mightily relieved Djokovic who closed out the win.

Novak Djokovic overcame soggy conditions on his 38^th  birthday to beat Matteo Arnaldi and reach the Geneva Open semi-finals in a tune-up event for Roland Garros.

The former world number one retrieved a break in the second set to claim a 6-4, 6-4 win over the 39^th -ranked Italian who dumped him out at the first hurdle in Madrid last month.

Djokovic is hunting the 100^th  title of his career on the eve of the French Open having not won a tournament since capturing Olympic gold in Paris last August.

 “It’s great to be in the semi-finals again. Last year I played the semi-finals. Hopefully this year I can go at least a step further. That’s the goal,” said Djokovic.

Djokovic, who received a wild card to play in Geneva after skipping Rome, will meet Australia’s Alexei Popyrin or British qualifier Cameron Norrie for a place in Saturday’s final.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion had not won a match on clay this season after also losing his Monte Carlo opener at the start of April to Alejandro Tabilo.

A single break early in the first set enabled Djokovic to take control, but the sixth-ranked Serbian had to rally from 4-1 down in the second before putting away Arnaldi.

He said an angry outburst after dropping serve helped him reset as he won the final five games.

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 “I think I’m playing really, really good tennis,” said Djokovic, who was presented on court with a chocolate cake topped with sparklers after his victory.

 “Today it was a lot of tension on the court. A straight-set win but it was much closer than maybe the score indicates.

 “I was 4-1 down in the second. Somehow after that racquet breaking I didn’t lose a game and kind of found my optimal state and balance, mentally and emotionally.”

Hubert Hurkacz put out top seed Taylor 6-3, 7-6 (7⁄5) earlier and will play Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner in the other semi-final.

The 128^th -ranked Ofner came from behind to beat fourth seed Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

 World No.5 Novak Djokovic, a finalist at the recent Miami Masters, said that he did not have high expectations for the Monte Carlo Masters as he was suffering from the effects of an eye infection.

Djokovic is a two-time winner in Monte Carlo but has not won any title since taking the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.

The hard courts of Miami marked a return to form even though the 37-year-old lost the final in straight sets to Czech teenager Jakub Mensik.

“I’m glad that I found at least in Miami that joy on the court and, I feel, performance level,” said the former world No.1 at a press conference ahead of the tournament.

“Let’s see if I can carry that into clay.

“It’s obviously a completely different surface and I didn’t have much time to get used to this tournament, so my expectations are not really high for the results here.

 “It’s more about trying to get matches and as many as possible, and obviously try to peak towards the end of the clay season which is, of course, most importantly in Paris.”

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The French Open, which takes place on the red clay of Roland Garros between May 25 and June  8, is the second Grand Slam event of the season, following the Australian Open where Djokovic reached the semi-finals before bowing out, injured, to Alexander Zverev.

The Serb admitted, however, that the eye infection and “a little bit of a viral infection” that he has been dealing with over the last week made him think twice about competing in Monte Carlo.

“It started in semi-finals day in Miami and I did struggle with it in the finals but it’s calming down, I guess.

“I’m visiting the doctor later today so let’s see. It should be okay.”

Given a first round bye, Djokovic will face a second round match against either the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo or another veteran of the circuit, three-time Grand Slam winner Stanislas Wawrinka.

“People talk about my age, but what about him? He’s 40 and he’s still going strong. I love Stan.

“It would be a nice duel of veterans if we meet on the court.”

Novak Djokovic said his leg injury, which shattered his Australian Open dream, was “almost 100 percent healed” and he was ready to aim for his 100^th ATP title in Doha this month.

 “There’s no longer any muscle tear. The injury is almost 100 percent healed and I’m ready to go for more victories,” Djokovic said in an interview with Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti.

 “I have the green light from the medical team to train, to prepare.

 “The Doha tournament is in seven days’ time, and I’m sticking to my schedule.”

Djokovic’s bid for a record-breaking 25^th  Grand Slam title at the Australian Open was ended when he was forced to retire injured after dropping the opening set against Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.

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The 37-year-old struggled with the injury during his quarter-final victory over Carlos Alcaraz.

But Djokovic is now expecting to be back for the Qatar Open which starts on February 17, where he will be hoping to join Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer by reaching 100 ATP titles.

 “I’ve been chasing it (100th ATP title) for a while, since last October. But we’ll see, it’ll come when it comes,” said the Serb, now ranked seventh in the world.

 “Thank God I managed to recover quickly. I’ve had a few more injuries recently compared to the first 15 years of my career.

 “It probably comes with age, but my body is still serving me well and I still have the flame and desire.”

The former world number one had to withdraw before the French Open quarter-finals last year, when he suffered a right knee injury and underwent meniscus surgery.

But he returned in time for Wimbledon, where he lost to Alcaraz in the final, before winning his first Olympic gold medal by beating the Spaniard at Roland Garros.

A leading TV presenter has apologised on-air to Novak Djokovic after mocking the 24-time Grand Slam winner and his Serbian fans at the Australian Open, saying it was meant to be banter.

The 37-year-old tennis great refused to do a routine on-court interview after beating Jiri Lehecka in three sets on Rod Laver Arena to make the quarter-finals on Sunday evening.

Afterwards he said it was in protest at Tony Jones, a top sports presenter with host broadcaster Channel Nine, who he accused of “insulting and offensive comments” towards him and Serbian fans.

Djokovic said he would boycott interviews with the TV station until he got an apology.

“The comments were made on the news on the Friday night, which I considered to be banter. I considered it to be humour, which is consistent with most things I do,” Jones said on Monday.

“Having said that, I was made aware on Saturday morning, from Tennis Australia via the Djokovic camp, that the Djokovic camp was not happy at all with those comments.

“As such I immediately contacted the Djokovic camp and issued an apology to them – 48 hours ago – for any disrespect that Novak felt, that I had caused.

“As I stand here now I can only stand by that apology to Novak.”

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The veteran broadcaster was live at Melbourne Park on Friday when a large group of Djokovic fans holding Serbian flags began cheering in the background behind him.

Jones responded by singing to them: “Novak, he’s overrated … Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out.”

“I should also say the disrespect was extended, in many ways, to the Serbian fans,” he said in his apology.

“We have built up a nice rapport with the Serbian fans … there is banter, and I thought what I was doing was an extension of that banter. Quite clearly that has not been interpreted that way.

“I feel as though I’ve let down the Serbian fans. It has been an unfortunate situation.”

In a strongly worded statement issued before Jones’s apology, the Serbian Council of Australia called for him to be sacked and said it had lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

“His comments are offensive, racist and only serve to incite further discrimination of Australian-Serbs,” it said.

Jones was also a target for American player Danielle Collins last week after he labelled her a “brat” when she thanked Australian Open hecklers for “paying my bills” in her defeat of home hope Destanee Aiava.