Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the upcoming Cincinnati Masters and it is the right decision.
Following his triumph at the Paris Olympic Games, the 37-year-old withdrew from the ongoing Canadian Open.
On Thursday he announced his decision to pull out of the Cincinnati Masters, where he is the defending champion.
Therefore, the Serbian will go into his US Open title defence without playing a warmup tournament, but it is nothing the tennis legend cannot handle.
Novak Djokovic needs the rest before his US Open title defence
Novak Djokovic has had a busy three months on the ATP Tour, starting with a gruelling clay court season.
It ended with him tearing the meniscus in his right knee which forced Djokovic to pull out of the French Open after reaching the quarter-finals. It required surgery, which he miraculously recovered from to play at Wimbledon and reach the final.
He had little rest after his exploits at SW19 as Djokovic entered the Olympic Games to finally win a gold medal, which he did by beating Carlos Alcaraz in a pulsating final.
Given the exertion he has put his knee through since his surgery, a rest is exactly what Djokovic needs ahead of trying to win a record 25th Grand Slam.
He will have learnt from 2021, where he travelled to Tokyo to compete in the Olympics and the World number two suffered defeat int he semi-finals. His quest for a calendar slam ended by losing to Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final. Djokovic look very fatigued in that straight sets defeat and this is not something he will want to repeat.
Novak Djokovic is experienced enough to play at the US Open with no warm-up matches
It can be understood why any Djokovic fans may be concerned that he will compete at the US Open without any recent hard court matches under his belt.
The final Grand Slam of the year is played on a hard court and Djokovic has not competed on the surface since the Indian Wells Masters in March.
His form on the surface has also been below his usual lofty standards. He suffered defeat to Alex de Minaur at the United Cup and exited the Australian Open at the semi-final stage courtesy of Jannik Sinner in January.
He was then upset by Italy’s Luca Nardi in the third round at Indian Wells in an underwhelming performance and he chose to skip the subsequent Miami Open.
But this is not the first time that Djokovic will have entered a Grand Slam without playing a tournament directly before.
In 2022, Djokovic entered Wimbledon without playing any grass court tournaments such as Queen’s or the Mallorca Open, and he went on to win the event for a seventh time, beating Nick Kyrgios in the final.
Djokovic trusts in his abilities and is prioritising his physical health by not playing any extra matches than he needs to ahead of trying to win a record-equalling fifth US Open title.
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