Novak Djokovic arrived in Miami a few days ago and immediately started practicing together with his coach Andy Murray. The Serbian legend already knows the new venue because he participated in the first edition of this tournament at the Hard Rock Stadium in 2019, but six years have passed and a lot has changed since the last time.
The former world No.1 absolutely needs to play a few matches after his shocking elimination at the Indian Wells Masters 1000, where he put in one of the worst performances of his entire career against Botic van de Zandschulp.
Some fans feared that Nole would skip the Miami Open again this year to recharge his batteries and start practicing on red clay, but the 24-time Grand Slam champion has changed his schedule in 2025 and intends to play more tournaments.
Nole practices his forehand
The results obtained so far cannot satisfy a legend like the 37-year-old from Belgrade, who confessed all his current difficulties after his premature elimination in the first Masters 1000 of the season. Not only did Novak get a worse result in California than in 2024 (when he was eliminated in the third round), but he played a truly horrible match in which he made almost 40 unforced errors.
For this reason, Djokovic is practicing with great intensity together with Murray these days and their work is focusing mainly on Nole’s forehand.
The forehand is undoubtedly the least natural shot of the Serbian champion, the one that tends to go into crisis when the former world number 1 does not feel at the top.
Novak has triumphed six times in Florida, but it has been many years since his last victory in this tournament. His first opponent in this year’s edition will be the winner of the match between his compatriot Hamad Medjedovic and Australian ace Rinky Hijikata (already beaten by Nole in Brisbane earlier this year).
The Serbian could potentially face Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
Tennis World USA