‘Fresh Novak Djokovic doesn’t really care when he loses in the smaller tournaments,’ says tennis legend

Novak Djokovic is enjoying “a little bit of an off-season” as he is using the “smaller” events to prepare for the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics, according to tennis great Mats Wilander.

The 2024 season has been a curious one so far for Djokovic as his Australian Open title defence came to an end in the semi-final as he was beaten in four sets by eventual champion Jannik Sinner.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner then opted to skip the Qatar Open before finally making his return at the Indian Wells Open at the beginning of March, but he was then stunned in the third round by the unheralded Luca Nardi, who was ranked No 123 at the time.

Djokovic was then due to appear at this week’s Miami Open, but withdrew from the ATP Masters 1000 event citing “balancing his private and professional schedule”.

But while the lack of titles and match practice could be problematic for other players, former world No 1 Wilander says there is no reason to be concerned if you a Djokovic fan as it is all part of a bigger plan for the Serbian with his focus on the Grand Slams and 2024 Paris Olympics.

“Novak Djokovic doesn’t really care when he loses in the smaller tournaments,” the seven-time Grand Slam winner told Eurosport.

“I mean, he would like to win every tournament, he’d like to win every match. But I do think that sometimes these days he goes on a trip just to test himself.

“‘How good has my practice been back home?’ or wherever he’s been practicing, and then he gets to a tournament and he’s playing the other pros, the best players in the world, and he realises after he wins a round or two or three or whatever the result is, I think he realises, ‘oh okay, I’m close enough, I don’t need to be any better at this particular moment’.

“‘The French Open is two months away and that’s when I need to be at my best for the French, for Wimbledon’, and then you push through and hope for the Olympics.

“But right now, in terms of competition, it is a little bit of an off-season. It would be great to win the Sunshine Double again for Novak Djokovic, but he’s not even playing in Miami.

“So basically, it’s a [case of] getting a couple of matches, understand that he’s very close, ‘I’m going to go home, I’m going to practice again and then I’ll be ready for the next match’.

“But I’m not worried. I was always worried about Novak winning too much and I think the last few years he hasn’t won too much on tour, which is why he’s winning so many Grand Slam tournaments because he’s fresh. I don’t think it matters.

“This surface again is not perfect for Novak with the slow bounce, the high bounce; I think that he prefers a faster court.

“So I think he goes and realises that Luca Nardi is another young Italian who’s really good. There’s a lot of good players out there who aren’t worried about Novak in terms of the physical part, unless it’s three out of five sets and then they become worried.

“Novak knows all this. I wouldn’t worry and I’m sure he’s not worried either.”