Novak Djokovic appears on Madrid Open entry list as Serb ramps up French Open preparations

Novak Djokovic has added another tournament to his schedule after being able to play just one event in the first four months of the year. The world No 1 has been kept out of the Australian Open and ‘Sunshine Double’ over his unvaccinated status but will be back in action during the clay swing and now looks set to play the Masters 1000 in Madrid at the end of the month.

Djokovic has played just one tournament so far this year, the Dubai Championships where he lost in the quarter-finals to qualifier Jiri Vesely. The world No 1 has slowly been building his schedule back up, first confirming his participation in the Monte Carlo Masters, Serbia Open and the French Open.

After being deported from the country on the eve of the Australian Open, where Rafael Nadal went on to win a record 21st Grand Slam title, the Serb will be gunning to match his rival’s new record by defending his French Open title, and he has added a third tournament into his preparations for his first Major tournament of the year.

The three-time former champion in Madrid looks set to make his return to the second Masters 1000 of the clay season this year as it was confirmed Djokovic had been named on their entry list. “The two world numbers one in the male and female circuits will be present at the Caja Mágica. Both Novak Djokovic, (three-time champion of the tournament in 2011, 2016, 2019), and Iga Swiatek, who will participate for the second time in his career on clay in Madrid, lead the entry lists,” the tournament wrote in a release on Tuesday.

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Djokovic has already started gearing up for his clay-court return, sharing practice footage from the Monte Carlo country club where the first Masters event of the clay season begins next week. And by adding another tournament to his French Open lead-up, the world No 1 will have a better chance at holding onto the top ranking in the absence of Daniil Medvedev.

The 26-year-old recently revealed he had been playing with a small hernia and underwent a medical procedure, keeping him out for one to two months. Medvedev sits just 10 points behind Djokovic in the rankings but has few points to defend over the clay season, so the Serb must earn himself 840 ranking points which can be achieved by reaching Masters final and winning the ATP 250 event in Belgrade to go into the French Open with his top ranking still intact.

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Joining Djokovic in Madrid will be Rafael Nadal, who himself is currently in the midst of a four to six week injury layoff after picking up a stress fracture in one of his ribs in Indian Wells. His period away from the sport covers Monte Carlo and Barcelona so the Madrid Masters is set to be his first event of the clay season.

Newly-crowned Miami Open champion Carlos Alcaraz will also be joining the field, a year on from becoming the youngest match-winner in the tournament’s history when he defeated Adrian Mannarino as a wildcard last year. On his 18th birthday, the world No 11 faced Rafael Nadal in the second round but lost to the elder Spaniard and this time around is gunning for the chance to beat Nadal on clay to prove he is “the best”.