World number one Novak Djokovic said he would Back on the pitch for this month’s Miami Open After recovering from a muscle tear, he suffered in his title defense at the Australian Open.
The The 33-year-old was injured in a third round match at Melbourne Park But that didn’t stop him from winning the record-breaking ninth Australian Open title and 18 Grand Slam tournaments.
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He will surpass Roger Federer’s record set most weeks when he finished first in the ATP Tour on Monday, to finish first in Week 311.
According to a partial schedule posted on his website, Djokovic was inducted into the ATP Masters 1000 hard-core event in Miami from March 22 to April 4.
This is the first of three events he will compete in before traveling to Europe to participate in clay swing before the French Open at the end of May.
From Miami, where he won six titles, Djokovic will travel to Monaco to compete in the Monte Carlo Masters, which runs April 11-18, before returning to Belgrade to compete in the ATP 250 Serbia Open.
The tour returns to Belgrade for the first time since 2012, and the Serbian Open will be held at the Djokovic Tennis Center from April 19 to 25.
Federer returns to face Shardy or Evans
Roger Federer will face the winner of the match between Jeremy Shardy and Dan Evans at next week’s Qatar Open in his first competition in over a year.
The 20-time defending champion, who underwent two right knee surgeries last season, is competing in his first tournament since reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open in February 2020.
In Saturday’s draw, Federer, 39, received a farewell and faces a second-round challenge from veteran Chardy or talented Briton Evans, both of whom play on Monday.
Veteran Chardy, currently ranked 64th in the world, led André Rublev to three groups in Rotterdam on Friday, and has also reached the semi-finals twice this year.
Evans, world number 28, had already won this year’s Melbourne River Murray Open last month, in which he beat Chardy in the semi-finals.
Other notable names in Doha include Dominic Tim and Rublev.
“It’s been a long and difficult road,” Federer, number two seed, said on Twitter on Friday.
“I know I’m not at the finish line yet. I feel like I’m in a good position. I’m training really well and I’m really improving. ”
Federer, who is currently ranked fifth in the world rankings, won the grueling Qatar event in 2005, 2006 and 2011.
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