Djokovic Skips Cincinnati, Heads to US Open Cold
After Toronto, Novak Djokovic has also pulled out of the Cincinnati Masters, meaning he will enter the US Open without a single warm-up event for the first time in his career. It is a choice, not an injury.
- Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Masters, after already skipping the event in Toronto.
- He will enter the US Open without a single warm-up tournament for the first time in his career, having not played since Wimbledon.
- Unofficially, it is about rest and a cleaner preparation, with no fear of injury involved.
- The US Open runs from August 24 to September 7.
The last time we saw him, he was waving to the Wimbledon crowd with the look of a man who knew something had slipped away. Jannik Sinner had knocked him off the path to the final in the semis, and then Novak Djokovic simply vanished from the radar. Not from tennis, but from the court itself. And in a way we have never seen before.
First came word that he was skipping the Masters in Toronto. That was easy enough to swallow, the Canadian hard courts were never his favourite stretch of the season. But when the Cincinnati withdrawal followed, the second big event before the last Grand Slam of the year, it became clear this was not routine load management. Djokovic will walk into the US Open without a single warm-up match played, the first time that has happened in his career.
Why is the best in the world suddenly choosing calm over competition?
The answer, at least the unofficial one, has nothing to do with a medical file. There is no injury, no hidden issue being swept under the carpet. This is the cold arithmetic of a man who long ago stopped counting weeks and started counting months. Rather than burn himself out on tournaments that, frankly, prove nothing new to him, he is choosing to bank his energy for the only target that still sounds like a real goal.
While the rest of the elite grinds through the American swing, in heat and humidity that breaks players younger than him, Djokovic is recharging far from all of it. Footage from Montenegro showed him relaxed, spotted in Savnik, and he had spent time in Greece earlier. No press conferences, no training in front of cameras. Just quiet before whatever comes next.
The only question is how bold the call really is. Match rhythm is not something you switch on like a light. A match cannot be simulated in practice, no matter how good the hitting partner. The first serve under pressure, the legs in a fifth set, the feel for the ball in the wind, all of that arrives only when someone across the net genuinely wants to beat you.
What this means for his US Open
The risk is real and there is no point pretending otherwise. A player who drops straight from a holiday into a Grand Slam is betting that experience will cover for what he lacks in match time. For anyone else, that would be a recipe for an early exit. For Djokovic, who has won the US Open in situations when nobody believed, the maths reads a little differently.
What looks like laziness is in fact a decision. He knows his own body better than any physiotherapist, and he has clearly judged that a week of rest is worth more than three matches on hard courts. Whether he is right, we will find out very soon, because the draw can be merciless towards those who walk in cold.
The US Open begins on August 24 and runs until September 7. Until then, Novak will likely stay hidden, far from the spotlight, right up until he steps onto centre court in New York. And then the real question begins: can the greatest player of his era lean on head and body alone, without a single match in his legs, and will you trust him when he walks out onto Arthur Ashe?
