Novak Djokovic makes unusual schedule change ahead of Australian Open

Novak Djokovic will play at the Adelaide International one week before the 2020 Australian Open in what is a rare schedule alteration for the Serbian.

It had been heavily speculated over recent days, but it has now been confirmed Novak Djokovic will play the Adelaide International tournament in the week before the Australian Open.

Djokovic will be seeded at number one for the ATP 250 event which runs from January 12 to January 18, finishing just two days before the first Grand Slam of 2020 gets under way in Melbourne.

The world number two will be joined by home hope Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev in the draw after the entry list was announced by tournament organisers.

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Already set to play in the ATP Cup for Serbia in the first week of the new 2020 Tour calendar, Djokovic, 32, will therefore play back-to-back events before defending his Australian Open title.

He has won the Aussie Open an astonishing seven times, making it by far his most successful major, with Wimbledon next on five wins, followed by the US Open (3) and the French Open (1).

As documented by the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic has made an unusual scheduling move in opting to play the week before a Slam.

He has not done that since Wimbledon in 2017, where he won a warm-up event in Eastbourne but could only make the quarter-finals once he moved on to All England Club.

Djokovic has only played the week before an Australian Open event on one prior occasion. He took part in Sydney days ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year in 2009, reaching the last four, and again just went on to reach the quarter-finals when playing at the major that followed.

The Serbian will hope for a better outcome than reaching the last eight this year as he goes into the Australian Open competing with in-form US Open champion Rafael Nadal to be considered the main man to beat, eyeing major number 17 of his tennis career.

Djokovic’s surprise scheduling move is unlikely to be related to his form.

Although the ATP Finals were not ideal as he crashed out at the round-robin stage having lost to Roger Federer, he had previously won the Paris Masters and Japan Open as well as making the quarter-finals in Shanghai in the weeks after making his return following the injury-enforced US Open retirement against Stan Wawrinka.

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He also looked good, albeit drained, as he won all three of his singles rubbers at the Davis Cup Finals last month.

Perhaps the new tournament schedule and untested format of the ATP Cup means Djokovic would like to be sure of getting some kind of day-to-day singles action under his belt before arriving in Melbourne.

Either way, the Adelaide International was delighted to land the 16-time Grand Slam champion.

"“We are thrilled to announce a star studded entry list for the Adelaide International,” tournament director Alistair MacDonald said.“Novak and Venus [Williams, who will play in the women’s event] are amongst the all-time greats of our sport and we can’t wait to see them right here in Adelaide.”"

Djokovic has often openly spoken about the importance he places on Grand Slams in comparison to regular ATP events as he reaches the back end of his career, so this change to his normal schedule would not have been one he decided upon lightly.

He always places huge importance on peaking at the right time and ensuring he is in optimal physical condition for the four majors.

This decision and the results that follow will be another interesting factor to watch out for when competitive tennis returns next month.

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Whatever happens, there will be few fans complaining at getting to see plenty of Novak Djokovic in January and beyond.

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