Novak Djokovic looks set to become the latest-high-profile tennis player to play in an exhibition match in Mexico as he is reportedly close to signing an agreement with organisers.
Tennis great Djokovic is set to join the list of ATP stars to head to Mexico as the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have all played in lucrative post-season matches in the Latin American country in recent years.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner is being lined up for an exhibition event at the Monumental Plaza de Toros Mexico after the conclusion of the 2024 tennis season.
His opponent for the match is yet to be confirmed but, according to reports Mexico’s Esto.com, Djokovic is considering a tour of Latin America and his sojourn will include a match against Juan Martin del Potro in Argentina.
It will be a break from tradition for the Serbian as he is often strict in terms of his post-season schedule as he prefers to take an extended period of rest before starting afresh in Australia.
But Esto.com claims the pressure is off Djokovic now that he has realised his lifelong dream of winning an Olympic singles gold medal. Djokovic became only the fifth player in history to complete the calendar Golden Slam [winning the four Grand Slams and Olympic gold] when he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final at the 2024 Paris Games.
Outside of the Olympics, it has been a frustrating year for Djokovic as he hasn’t won a title on the ATP Tour.
This year is the first time since 2017 that he hasn’t won a Grand Slam as he lost in the semi-final of the Australian Open, withdrew from his French Open quarter-final due to injury, finished runner-up to Alcaraz at Wimbledon and lost in the third round of the US Open.
The 37-year-old has played only 39 matches this year and he is next set to feature in the Davis Cup for Serbia before taking part in the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia alongside Nadal, Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.
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He has also signed up for the Shanghai Masters and will most likely feature at the Paris Masters as well as the ATP Finals, if he qualifies.
And it now appears he will head to Latin America after the season comes to a conclusion for matches in Argentina and Mexico.
The Monumental Plaza de Toros Mexico has hosted several high-profile matches in recent years as in 2019 Federer and Alexander Zverev played in front of 42,517 fans, which was a world record at the time. Federer and Nadal then broke that record with an exhition match in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2020.
Nadal and Casper Ruud then played in Mexico in 2022 before Alcaraz and Tommy Paul featured at the 2023 exhibition event.
