Organizers: Djokovic withdraws from the Madrid Masters 1000 tournament

Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Madrid tournament for the 1,000-point Masters in tennis, according to what the organizers announced Saturday.

The organizers of the tournament, through their official account on Instagram, published a picture of the Serb, accompanied by the comment, “Novak Djokovic is unable to compete in the Madrid Open,” which will start on April 26.

Djokovic’s withdrawal, which is believed to be linked to a problem he was suffering from in his elbow, is a blow to his preparations for the French Open (Roland Garros), which begins next May.

The 35-year-old Serb suffered a surprising defeat in two straight sets, against his compatriot Dusan Lajovic, in the quarter-finals of the Luca Banja tournament in Bosnia on Friday.

Prior to that, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti disturbed the Serb’s return to the stadiums after his forced absence from the American Indian Wells and Miami tournaments due to not receiving a Covid-19 vaccine, by excluding him from the final price of the Monte Carlo tournament on April 13th.

Djokovic had said before the Banja Luka tournament that his elbow was “not in perfect condition”.

Thus, Djokovic joined Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who shares the record for the number of major tennis titles with him (22).

“My level was much lower than I wanted. Playing like this, I can’t win against opponents who are so tough. But what can I do? It’s just a sport. I was trying but it didn’t work out,” said the first seed, the winner of both Roland Garros titles, after losing to Lajovic on Friday. “.