After being denied a chance to defend his title at the 2022 Australian Open, Novak Djokovic is set to kick off his season at the ATP 500 Dubai Open. Djokovic has been a 5-time champion on the hard courts of The Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Center. He is only superseded by Swiss Maestro Roger Federer, who has won 8 titles in Dubai.

The ATP 500 Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, scheduled to kick start on 21st February, released its draw today. The draw is headed by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. 

Projected path of Novak Djokovic in Dubai

Novak Djokovic will play his first tour match since his semi-final loss at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals. The Serbian national has taken the top spot in the draw, released today. 

Round 1:

Lorenzo Musetti

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Novak will start his Dubai campaign against Wildcard entrant, 19-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti. The two have faced each other just once in their career, in the 4th round of 2021 Roland Garros. Taking everyone by surprise, Musetti gave a neck-to-neck fight to Djokovic, winning the first two sets in tie-breakers. However, Djokovic made a champion’s comeback and went on to win the next two sets 6-1,6-0. The last set saw Lorenzo retiring on 0-4, citing cramps and lower back pain. 

Round 2:

Karen Khachanov- The two have faced each other 5-times in their career and Djokovic leads the head-to-head race 4-1 against the Russian. The two first met in the Round of 16 of 2018 Wimbledon, with Djokovic recording a straight-set win. 

OR

Alex De Minaur- It will be the first meeting of Djokovic with Australian Alex De Minaur. 

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The final rounds

Quarter-Finals:

Roberto Bautista Agut- The two have faced each other 12 times in the past. With Djokovic leading the race 9-3. The two last met at the 2020 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati with Djokovic winning in 3 sets.

OR

Marin Cilic- Djokovic and Cilic have faced each other 20-times in their career. Unsurprisingly, it is Djokovic who leads the race with a massive margin of 18-2. Cilic has toppled the Serbian once in the quarter-finals of the 2016 ATP Masters 1000 Paris and once in the final of the 2018 ATP 500 London/Queen’s Club. 

Semi-Finals

Felix Auger-Aliassime- Novak has never faced Auger-Aliassime in his career.

OR

Denis Shapovalov- Novak leads the head-to-head race against the Canadian 7-0. Out of the 7 meetings, 5 have been on the hardcourts. In the 7 meetings, Djokovic has just dropped 3 sets against Shapovalov. 

Finals

Andrey Rublev- Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev have faced each other just once in their career. The two met in the Round Robin of the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals with Djokovic winning in straight sets.

OR 

Jannik Sinner- The two have faced each other once in their career at the 2021 ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo with Djokovic winning in straight sets.

OR

Hubert Hurkacz- The two have faced each other 3 times in their career with Djokovic leading the race 3-0. They last met in the semi-finals of 201 ATP Masters 1000 Paris.