The world often has its eyes set on what Serbian star Novak Djokovic is doing. For the good and bad reasons, Djokovic has been in the news aplenty over the years and easily one of the greatest sporting personalties of the 21st century. The current world number one Novak Djokovic, however, dropped a disappointing news for all the fans.

Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the 2023 Madrid Open, following arch-rival and fellow 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in skipping the second Masters 1000 event of the year. After his loss against Dusan Lajovic in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Srpska Open on Friday, the Serb admitted that he will have to think about whether to play in Madrid or not, as he wanted to properly recover from his elbow injury before taking to court again.

He has said his right elbow is “not in an ideal condition” before the Srpska Open in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Djokovic, 35, had surgery on the joint in 2018 and wore strapping during his shock defeat by Lorenzo Musetti at the Monte Carlo Masters last week. The Srpska Open is the 22-time Grand Slam winner’s final tournament before the French Open starts on 28 May.

Speaking to the press after his quarterfinal loss at the Srpska Open, Novak Djokovic was dismayed about his level on the night, lamenting that he did not feel good on the court and felt that he was far too sluggish. The 22-time Grand Slam champion went so far as to say that he wouldn’t be able to beat quality opponents on clay if he continued to stay at this level.

“The loss is due to a combination of many things,” he said. “He played very well, very solid, and I was a couple of levels below what was expected. I can’t win against opponents who are so solid on this surface with this game. I didn’t even feel good physically on the court, I felt slow, with sluggish legs, I missed a lot of balls, and was totally out of shot. At times I played well, but well below my level.”

The 35-year-old had reached the final of the Madrid Open last year, where he fell to eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz. Having previously defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals, Alcaraz became the first man in history to beat both Nadal and Djokovic in the same claycourt event. The Belgrade native suffered an unexpected Round-of-16 exit at the Monte-Carlo Masters prior to the campaign in Banja Luka, marking a rather poor start to his clay swing in 2023.