Novak Djokovic has officially withdrawn from Serbia’s upcoming Davis Cup tie due to the injury that cut his Australian Open campaign short.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion sustained a leg muscle tear during his intense quarter-final match against Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne. Despite the discomfort, Djokovic managed to power through and defeat Alcaraz in four sets. However, his hopes of advancing further were dashed after losing a tough first set in his semi-final match against Alexander Zverev, forcing him to retire from the match.
Now, at 37 years old, Djokovic has confirmed that he won’t be participating in Serbia’s first-round Davis Cup qualifier against Denmark, scheduled for January 31 and February 1 in Copenhagen. He also expressed uncertainty regarding his participation in the ATP 500 tournament in Doha, which kicks off on February 17. “I will not play the Davis Cup, and the tournament in Doha in a few weeks is also still uncertain,” Djokovic revealed to Serbian media.
This withdrawal is particularly significant as Djokovic has emphasized in recent years that representing his country and winning Grand Slam titles are now his primary goals. Back in September, during Serbia’s Davis Cup tie against Greece, he shared a more spontaneous approach to his scheduling. “Usually in my career, I used to have my schedule ready six months in advance, but nowadays that’s not the case. Now it’s more spontaneous,” he said. He added that before making any decisions about his future tournaments, both physically and mentally, he needs to rest.
“I’m not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings. As far as I’m concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career. Whether I will play others this year or in the future, I can’t say right now. My main priorities are playing for the national team and Slams. Everything else is less important. I said a million times how much it means to play for the national team,” Djokovic explained.
His devotion to representing Serbia was evident as he discussed how crucial it is to play for his country with passion, both in practice and matches: “The way you show it is by, first and foremost, playing for the national team when you get the call, with fight, dedication in both practice and matches.”
Following his retirement against Zverev, Djokovic opened up about the severity of his injury. “I didn’t hit a ball since [the] Alcaraz match, so until like an hour before today’s match,” he explained. “I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had. Medications and, I guess, the strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today. But yeah, towards the end of that first set I just started feeling more and more pain.”
The world No. 7 admitted that the pain became too overwhelming. “It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment. Unfortunate ending, but I tried,” he reflected. Describing the injury as a muscle tear, Djokovic compared it to a similar issue he faced two years ago, which he was able to manage better at the time. “Two years ago, I have managed it better. On the court it didn’t bother me as much. This time that wasn’t the case.”
He also mentioned that the limited recovery time before his semi-final match didn’t help his situation. “I had an extra day, so two days no match. So I thought it’s going to be good enough maybe. But yeah, that wasn’t the case, unfortunately,” Djokovic said, acknowledging the difficulty of his recovery despite his efforts.