Novak Djokovic to miss Madrid Open

Last year, Djokovic withdrew from Madrid after an injury to his right elbow. He arrived in Rome where he lost in the quarter-finals to Holger Rune.

The same will be true this year as the 24-time Grand Slam champion heads straight to Italy without participating in the Spanish clay-court Masters event.

The immediate consequence in the draw in Madrid was that Jannik Sinner will become the top seed.

Luca Van Assche enters the draw as the first alternate.

We are so used to Novak Djokovic mopping up titles around the world every year – especially in the first few months of each year – that it’s odd to see him leave Monte-Carlo still title-less in 2024.

It’s only happened twice since he won his first Grand Slam title that he’s not won at least one title in the first four months of the season, in 2018 and 2022. In 2018, he put it right at Wimbledon while in 2022, he righted the ship as soon as Rome. In fact it’s only happened three times in his career, the other being 2006.