Novak Djokovic will attempt to defend his title at the 2024 US Open after playing no hard-court tournaments to prepare.
The Serbian has not featured since his stunning and emotional triumph at the 2024 Paris Olympics at the start of August, when he downed Carlos Alcaraz in the gold medal match.
Djokovic pulled out of the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati, which means this will be the first time in his career where he has not played a hard-court event prior to the New York major.
This is only the second occasion in Djokovic’s career where he will play the US Open after missing both the tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati.
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Djokovic’s 2021 US Open build-up
The only other season in which Djokovic withdrew from both North American Masters events but played the US Open was 2021 — the previous Olympic year.
The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo were rescheduled to 2021, with the tennis event played on hard courts from July 24 to August 1.
Djokovic was chasing a historic Golden Slam in 2021 after becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the first three majors in a season.
The Serbian suffered heartbreak in Tokyo, though, as he lost in the semi-finals to Alexander Zverev, before falling in the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta.
Following the disappointment of missing out on a then-elusive gold medal, Djokovic pulled out of the Toronto Masters, which started a week after the Games. He also chose not to compete in Cincinnati the week after Canada.
Djokovic’s 2021 US Open campaign
Djokovic arrived at the 2021 US Open for his first tournament since the Tokyo Games looking to complete an astonishing Calendar Grand Slam.
The year’s fourth and final major started around a month after the Olympics, but despite the break, Djokovic seemed drained by the pressure of his remarkable history-seeking efforts during his campaign at Flushing Meadows.
The No 1 seed started his tournament with a four-set win over Holger Rune, who had come through qualifying, before earning his only straight-set victory of his run against Tallon Griekspoor in round two.
Djokovic then battled through three successive four-setters against Kei Nishikori, Jenson Brooksby and Matteo Berrettini.
In the semi-finals, Djokovic avenged his Olympic loss to overcome Zverev in a tough five-setter — taking him to within one win of the staggering feat.
The final was ultimately one match too far for Djokovic as he fell to a straight-set defeat to Daniil Medvedev, but the Serbian could still be immensely proud of putting together one of the greatest Grand Slam seasons in tennis history.
