Novak Djokovic admits his semi-final loss at the Australian Open prompted questions about his form but the Serbian has vowed to regain momentum at the Indian Wells Masters.
The world No.1 is set to return to competitive tennis later this week for the first time since Melbourne where he missed out on the chance of claiming a historic 25th major title. At the Australian Open, he was beaten in four sets by Jannik Sinner who went on to claim the title. It is only the second time since 2019 that Djokovic has started his season without winning a Grand Slam after 2022 when he was banned from playing in Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A few weeks on from that disappointment, Djokovic has had time to process his start to 2024. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he admits that he misses having the confidence that usually comes along with winning a big title early in the season.
“Australia has been a place where I’ve won the most Slams, most of the seasons starting my season with a Grand Slam trophy, which of course gives you a huge wind in the sails for the rest of the season and when you start the season in such fashion, you have more confidence and also I guess you feel a bit relief, that last 15 years I’ve been one of the candidates to win every Slam I’ve played in,” Tennis Now quoted Djokovic as saying.
“So if that doesn’t happen, then obviously people start to question whether you can do it again and again and the more time passes by, the question becomes even more of a focus.”
As to where it went wrong, the 36-year-old believes he had insufficient time to rest following his performances on the Tour last year. In 2023 he won seven titles, including three Grand Slam events and the ATP Finals in Turin.
However, credit can’t be taken away from Sinner who has beaten Djokovic in three out of their four most recent meetings.
“I had a phenomenal Grand Slam season particularly and just overall last year and also end of the year, made some amazing records in the history for the sport that took a lot of me and so I didn’t feel like I had a proper time to rest and to do a proper preparation block like maybe I would normally do,” he said.
“But it is what it is. I don’t think I played my best tennis in Australia, whereas Jannik [Sinner] did. And he was just far better than me that day and after that he made an incredible comeback in the final and won his first title, so it was absolutely deserved.”
Djokovic is playing in Indian Wells for the first time since 2019. After the event was cancelled in 2020, he was unable to play the next three years due to travel restrictions that were in place. Under an emergency health law, foreign visitors to America were required to be vaccinated against the virus and the tennis star wasn’t. He applied for special exemptions to play but was refused by authorities. These restrictions ended last year.
“I’m very excited to come back,” the five-time champion commented.
“Time flies incredibly fast – let’s see if I can have a good tournament.”
Djokovic’s opening match will be against Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic.
