MIAMI GARDENS, Florida – Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will skip the Miami Open, saying less than a week after a surprise loss at Indian Wells that he needs to balance his “private and professional schedule.”
Djokovic’s announcement on his social media accounts follows his 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 defeat to unheralded Luca Nardi in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
“At this stage of my career, I´m balancing my private and professional schedule,” Djokovic wrote according to AP.
“I´m sorry that I won´t experience some of the best and most passionate fans in the world,” he added.
Nardi, who is ranked No. 123, become the lowest-ranked player to beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam or ATP Masters 1000 level event, surpassing No. 122 Kevin Anderson in 2008 in Miami.
The 20-year-old Italian got into the field as a “lucky loser,” which is a player who stumbled on the final hurdle in qualifying but made it into the main draw as a replacement for an injured player who pulled out before the first round.
The 36-year-old Djokovic is a six-time champion in Miami. The hardcourt tournament begins next week.
Elsewhere, Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic earned their third title of the season when they were crowned champions at the BNP Paribas Open.
The Dutch-Croatian duo overcame fifth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in a one-hour, 51-minute final after winning 85 per cent of their first-serve points.
A pivotal moment came on serve at 5-6 in the second set, when they fought off a set point to avoid a Match Tie-break.
“It came down to the tie-break, where anybody can win. We started both tie-breaks well with a mini break and maybe that was the reason as we were leading the whole tie-break,” Mektic said according to atptour.com.
“The score tells you what a high quality match it was.”
Despite failing to convert any of their five break points, Koolhof and Mektic stepped in on returns in both tie-breaks and looked to cut off any ball at net to lift their first ATP Masters 1000 team title.
“It means a lot because it’s one of the strongest Masters 1000 events because you have a lot of top singles players also playing,” Koolhof said.
“In last year’s final I lost 10-8 in the [Match Tie-break], so I had some unfinished business to do here. We’re very happy to have won this one.”
Koolhof and Mektic opened the season with an ATP 250 crown in Auckland, where they ousted Granollers and Zeballos in the final. Having also won in Rotterdam, the pair boasts a 16-3 season record. They are 14-0 when winning the first set.
“When I woke up this morning I was thinking that I had a 250, a 500 and hopefully now a 1000, so maybe the next one will be a major if we can capture one of the remaining three,” Koolhof said.
“It’s been an incredible start to the season. We’ve played six events and won three. So if we can keep a 50 per cent ratio we’ll be very happy.”
The pair of former World No. 1s in the ATP Rankings, who won the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals together, rejoined forces at the start of this season after they each played with different partners the past three years.
