Novak Djokovic explained his surprising move to not compete at the Italian Open after starting his campaign at the 2025 French Open with a win.

The Serbian did not give a reason when he withdrew ahead of the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.

Djokovic‘s decision came after he lost his opening matches at the Masters events in Monte Carlo and Rome.

It ended a run of 18 consecutive appearances at the Italian Open for Djokovic since he made his debut at the tournament in 2007. Djokovic is a six-time champion in Rome.

The tennis legend then chose to accept a wildcard to compete at the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva in the week before the French Open.

That proved to be an inspired move as Djokovic won all four of his matches in Switzerland to claim a milestone 100th ATP Singles title.

Following his opening round win over Mackenzie McDonald at the French Open, Djokovic was asked why he did not compete in Rome before deciding to play in Geneva.

“The decision I made was that this year I was going to play in Madrid instead of Rome,” the 38-year-old said.

“It’s not normal: if I have to choose between the two, I normally choose Rome, because in terms of the schedule it’s better.

“However, this year I wanted to play in Madrid. I hadn’t played there in a long time. I didn’t want to play both, because I played in Monte Carlo shortly after Miami, which perhaps wasn’t the best decision.

“Monte Carlo is a place where I feel at home and where I’m always tempted to play, so it’s hard for me to skip it.

“As for Geneva, it wasn’t in the plans or on my schedule, but I spoke with my team and we decided to go there because I’d practically only played two matches on clay.

“I’m the kind of player who needs to play a little more to find the right game on clay. It doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does to others, perhaps.

“If you analyse all the seasons of my career, I usually need a little more time to get used to the surface and hitting the ball. It was a good decision to go to Geneva, to be honest, because I was also struggling with my confidence levels; I was a bit doubtful with my game.

“It was fantastic to win four matches and a title: now I’m coming to Roland Garros with a different feeling than I had three weeks ago. We’ll see how far I can go here, but I have a good feeling.”