Novak Djokovic starts season 2023 with 250 tournament in Adelaide
While most top professionals open the 2023 season in the United Cup mixed team competition, Novak Djokovic starts the new season with an ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Adelaide.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Nov 30, 2022, 03:22 pm
The so-called off-season, when the top players are allowed to take a well-deserved break, is far shorter than most might think. Especially the men who were still busy at the ATP finals, or who even served for their country at the Davis Cup finals in Málaga, must have a successful schedule so that at least a few days of relaxation are possible.
Novak Djokovic was at least able to save himself the trip to Andalusia "thanks" to the Serbs' elimination in the group stage in September. The unofficial ATP world champion is jetting to Dubai before Christmas, where he will serve with his colleagues Grigor Dimitrov, Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa for the "Falcons" team in the "World Tennis League" exhibition competition.
A tournament before the Australian Open
The hard court event in the United Arab Emirates will take place from December 19th to 24th - a decent Christmas bonus is for the ex-world number one and many of his rivals (including Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem or Nick Kyrgios or Holger Rune) so definitely already bagged.
The South Slav warms up at the Adelaide International Open I so that the Australian Open, which starts on January 16th, also works with real tournament tennis. These will be played from January 2nd, the week when most of the other international tennis colleagues are committed to the United Cup mixed team competition. This is followed by a one-week preparatory phase in Melbourne before "Nole" is allowed to test the balance of the "Happy Slam" audience. In 2022, the 21-time major winner was not allowed to take part in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year due to his Covid vaccination status.