Former world number one
Mats Wilander believes that Serbia’s
legendary tennis star
Novak Djokovic is not scared to lose smaller tournaments.
The 36-year-old had a difficult start to the 2024 campaign
where he has already suffered three defeats. His most recent defeat came while
playing in the Indian Wells where he was knocked out of the competition after
losing to Italy’s Luca Nardi in the round of 32 with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
After that, Djokovic announced that he would not take part in
the ongoing ATP 1000 event — the
Miami Open. Wilander was recently quoted in a report
where he expressed his opinion that the 24-time Grand Slam winner is definitely
not scared of playing in smaller competitions.
"Novak Djokovic doesn't really care when he loses in
the smaller tournaments,” he said. "I mean, he would like to win every
tournament, he'd like to win every match. But I do think that sometimes these
days he goes on a trip just to test himself.
"But right now, in terms of competition, it is a little
bit of an off-season. It would be great to win the Sunshine Double again for
Novak Djokovic, but he's not even playing in Miami.
"So basically, it's a [case of] getting a couple of
matches, understand that he's very close, ‘I'm going to go home, I'm going to
practice again and then I'll be ready for the next match’.
“But I'm not worried. I was always worried about Novak
winning too much and I think the last few years he hasn't won too much on tour,
which is why he's winning so many Grand Slam tournaments because he's fresh. I
don't think it matters.
"This surface again is not perfect for Novak with the
slow bounce, the high bounce; I think that he prefers a faster court.
"So I think he goes and realises that Luca Nardi is
another young Italian who's really good. There's a lot of good players out
there who aren’t worried about Novak in terms of the physical part, unless it's
three out of five sets and then they become worried. Novak knows all this. I
wouldn't worry and I'm sure he's not worried either."