{"id":51890,"date":"2025-05-29T01:11:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T01:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51890"},"modified":"2025-05-29T01:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T01:11:56","slug":"novak-djokovic-finally-reveals-reason-he-did-not-play-the-italian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51890","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic finally reveals reason he did not play the Italian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Novak<\/figure>\n
<\/div>\n
Novak Djokovic attends a press conference<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Serbian did not give a reason when he withdrew ahead of the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.<\/p>\n

Djokovic\u2018s decision came after he lost his opening matches at the Masters events in Monte Carlo and Rome.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Following his opening round win over Mackenzie McDonald at the\u00a0French Open, Djokovic was asked why he did not compete in Rome before deciding to play in Geneva.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision I made was that this year I was going to play in Madrid instead of Rome,\u201d the 38-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not normal: if I have to choose between the two, I normally choose Rome, because in terms of the schedule it\u2019s better.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this year I wanted to play in Madrid. I hadn\u2019t played there in a long time. I didn\u2019t want to play both, because I played in Monte Carlo shortly after Miami, which perhaps wasn\u2019t the best decision.<\/p>\n

<\/canvas><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/canvas><\/canvas>\u201cMonte Carlo is a place where I feel at home and where I\u2019m always tempted to play, so it\u2019s hard for me to skip it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAs for Geneva, it wasn\u2019t in the plans or on my schedule, but I spoke with my team and we decided to go there because I\u2019d practically only played two matches on clay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the kind of player who needs to play a little more to find the right game on clay. It doesn\u2019t come as naturally to me as it does to others, perhaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fantastic to win four matches and a title: now I\u2019m coming to Roland Garros with a different feeling than I had three weeks ago. We\u2019ll see how far I can go here, but I have a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic attends a press conference Novak Djokovic explained his surprising move to not compete at the Italian Open after starting his campaign at the 2025 French… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nNovak Djokovic finally reveals reason he did not play the Italian Open - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=51890\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novak Djokovic finally reveals reason he did not play the Italian Open - 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