Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the Monte Carlo Masters this year, in a continued effort to prolong his career by managing his schedule.
It’s always a shame to see someone of his stature pull out of events, but it’s become commonplace nowadays.
Everyone understands that to continue competing at the unbelievable level that he does, sacrifices must be made.
And, there may be another factor contributing to the Monte Carlo Masters being the tournament he decided to skip: historically, he has not performed well there.
Novak Djokovic’s apology after the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters
In fact, just last year, Djokovic actually felt the need to apologise after suffering an early exit.
Facing Alejandro Tabilo, after being granted a bye through the first round, the Serbian superstar was playing his first match on clay since winning Olympic gold the year before.
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However, he could not conjure the same level of quality, firing 29 unforced errors as he lost in straight sets.
Afterwards, he did not hold back in his critical self-assessment: “I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible.
“I did not have high expectations. I knew I was going to have a tough opponent, and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.
“I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know. [It was] just horrible.
“A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”
Monte Carlo is Novak Djokovic’s worst Masters 1000 event
Novak Djokovic’s decision to withdraw from Monte Carlo makes more and more sense when delving back through his historical performance here.
And, whilst not poor by any means, he has struggled here far more often than at other events of this level.
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His 71% win rate is the worst of all nine Masters 1000 tournaments, and having won the event just twice marks a shock underperformance given he has won some, like the Paris Masters, as many as seven times.
This is all made even more shocking given he has played the tournament 20 times, more than the Madrid, Shanghai, Canada and Cincinnati Open, and as many times as he did in Miami, where he won the title on six occasions.
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