12 time grand slam champion, Novak Djokovic has accepted a wildcard into the Barcelona Open as he aims to get more match practice.
The Barcelona Open announced the news on Friday afternoon after Novak hinted at the possibility of playing an extra tournament next week. The Serbian has only played four tournaments this season, with his last tournament in Monte-Carlo where he lost to Dominic Thiem 6-7(2) 6-2 6-3 in the third round.
Djokovic, who is currently 13 in the world, was seemingly returning to some of his best tennis last week although he looked fatigued in the latter moments of his match with Thiem. The former world number one has only played once before in Barcelona, which was in 2006 when he was 178 in the world rankings. On that occasion he lost to Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in three sets.
The 12 time grand slam champion also announced after his defeat in Monaco, that Marian Vajda will continue to be his coach at least until the end of the clay court season. Djokovic will join the likes of Rafael Nadal, David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, Pablo Carreno Busta and Diego Schwartzman in the field in Barcelona.
The tournament in Barcelona starts on the 23rd of April.
