The last year’s runner-up, Novak Djokovic, has withdrawn from the second leg of the Sunshine double. The Serbian was playing with an arm injury at Indian Wells, so he was wearing a white sleeve for support. Now, the injury seems to have aggravated after a three-set battle against the British No.1, Jack Draper, in the fourth round.

This was the first time Djokovic had reached the last 16 in nine years. The world No. 3 put on a great show for two hours and 37 minutes, but it was not enough. All three matches he played at the Indian Wells reached the distance. This must have put a serious toll on his arm, leading to a right shoulder injury. 

Withdrawing from the Miami Open would result in a deduction of 650 points, taking him out of the top 3. However, Djokovic has often talked about not caring about the rankings anymore at this age, as he just plays the sport for the love of it. 

At the Indian Wells, he had talked at length about his discomfort during the event. The Serbian had revealed that the issue was troubling him for weeks, but it was nothing major and was manageable by the “infrared wearable.” After saving a scare against Kovacevic, Djokovic said:

“I’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks with that forearm and trying to go through. It’s a bit odd, the more I serve, the better I feel, but then it comes on and off if I get cold.”

He explained that the issue would resolve if he got more playing time, but that was not the case. 

“If I don’t serve for five or six minutes, then I feel like the first couple of serves of that game are a bit painful. I’m working through it. It’s not something I haven’t faced before. It’s the ins and outs of being a tennis player at this level, but overall, the body is feeling okay. Hopefully it’s going to get better every day,” Djokovic added.

The 10-time Australian Open champion, who started the year by reaching another final at Melbourne, could not repeat his heroics at the BNP Paribas Open. Djokovic struggled throughout the tournament, as he dropped sets against all of his opponents, including unseeded players like Aleksandar Kovacevic and Kamil Majchrzak. To get more match time, he was even playing the doubles event with Stefanos Tsitsipas, where they managed to reach the round of 16. The duo had defeated the third seed Mate Pavic and Marcelo Arevalo in the first round but lost to runners-up Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot in the second. 

The 38-year-old would not be affected by missing the Miami Open this year. He has often spoken about strategically scheduling his calendar and not playing every tournament on the tour at this stage of his career.

“The schedule is unclear as it was in the last couple of years. It revolves mostly around Slams, but I pick and choose where I want to play — not just from a tennis standpoint, but also emotionally, brand-wise or whatever it is that inspires me,” Djokovic had stated at the start of the Indian Wells Masters.

We could probably see the 24-time Grand Slam champion make a return at one of the clay Masters before the French Open. 

After his defeat against the former world No.4, Djokovic suggested that he could have advanced to the quarterfinal round if not for one point. 

Novak Djokovic on the turning point against Jack Draper 

The Serbian was up against the defending champion, Jack Draper, in the fourth round. This was the farthest he had reached in the last nine years, and he wanted to make the most out of it. The match went into the third-set tiebreaker, eventually won by the British No. 1 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(5).

Djokovic blames a 26-shot rally he won at the beginning of the third set, which exhausted the energy out of him. After winning the point, the former world No. 1 dropped to the floor, celebrating it like he had won the match. 

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“One point [made the difference]. Yeah, one point. I mean, it cost me a break after, you know. It was great winning that point in that game, but I just, like, ran completely out of the gas and just started to feel a bit better towards basically end of the third. He played a sloppy game to close it out 5-4, and, you know, I got the crowd, you know, backing me, and I felt the energy. It was, like, maybe I’m gonna take this one. It was so close, so close. I mean, just unfortunate few mistakes from my side. Tiebreak, 4-3 up. 5-5, as well. That’s tennis.”

Even after winning that marathon point at 30-30 in the opening game of the third set, Djokovic went on to lose the game on his serve. Draper eventually sealed the match by just two points, leaving Nole to believe that conserving his energy earlier might have changed the outcome.