Novak Djokovic, the World No. 2 and the recently crowned Olympic gold medalist, is not playing at the ongoing Cincinnati Open. He had also pulled out of the Canadian Open, which concluded last week.

Djokovic will play at the US Open next

Djokovic will play at the US Open next

With two consecutive withdrawals, the 37-year-old Serb will next play at the US Open 2024, which gets underway on Monday, August 26. He has won the title in New York four times and will look to win his 25th Grand Slam title there.

Djokovic has been giving his body some much-needed rest:

Djokovic is still going strong in the tennis circuit, but it does not mean that he is getting any younger. He has played in all three Grand Slams this year, aside from the Olympics and three Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo, Indian Wells and Rome.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion is still supremely fit, but, at this stage in his career, he should focus solely on increasing his Majors tally. He has already won 40 Masters 1000 titles, four more than the tally of Rafael Nadal, who is second on the list.

Hence, the only real motivation for the Serb, at the moment, should be to win Grand Slams; meaning he should take part in Masters 1000 tournaments only sporadically.

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Djokovic will lose some ranking points as a result:

The Serb won the Cincinnati Open title last year, beating Carlos Alcaraz in a gripping final amid scorching heat. His decision to skip the tournament this time around means that he stands to lose 1000 ranking points.

It will cause his world ranking to drop to No. 3, with both Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz positioned above him. However, with possibly a few years left in him at the top level in tennis, Djokovic should not worry much about his ranking at the moment.

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Instead, he should emphasize more on recharging his batteries for the upcoming US Open. Winning his fifth title in New York will take him five ahead of Roger Federer’s Grand Slam tally and three in front of Nadal’s, his nearest rival among men in that regard.

As mentioned earlier, at this stage of his career, increasing the deficit with his two nearest rivals in terms of the Grand Slam count should mean much more to Djokovic than anything else. Hence, his decision to skip the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open makes a lot of sense and appears logical.

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Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer