The entire tennis fraternity has been eagerly awaiting the return of the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to active tennis, playing competitive matches again. The Serb could not compete in many tournaments owing to his vaccination status. Also, countries like Australia and United States have a strict vaccine mandate, making it difficult for the Serb to enter such countries.

However, now that most countries are reviewing and changing their vaccination-related guidelines, things have started to look better for Djokovic. Another star that has been preparing for a comeback to the ATP tour is Stan Wawrinka. Recently, the two entertained the tennis fans by playing ‘mini tennis’ in front of a casino, ahead of the Monte Carlo Masters.

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Novak Djokovic aims for third Monte Carlo Masters

The last tournament Novak Djokovic played was the Dubai Tennis Championships, but he lost to Jiri Vesely in the quarterfinals. At Monte Carlo Masters, on his comeback trail, Djokovic should be hoping to get much-needed match practice under his belt in the lead-up to the French Open, where he is the defending champion.

He will be facing either hard-hitting Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Marcos Giron in the first round, and if all goes well, he will lock horns against Carlos Alcaraz in a mouth-watering quarterfinal clash at the Principality.

Alcaraz, the newly crowned Miami Open champion, has been in tremendous form so far this season. He will certainly pose a great threat to Djokovic if indeed they meet each other in the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 Monte Carlo Masters champion, accepted a wildcard for the event and will be up against Alexander Bublik in his tournament opener.

Being sidelined for about a year due to his injury, Wawrinka has been preparing hard to compete at the top level again. This will be the three-time Major champion’s first tour-level tournament since March last year.

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Djokovic and Wawrinka not only entertained fans by playing the mini-match, they posed for photos, and chatted with each other as well. They also practiced together on Thursday on the Court Rainier III as preparation for the third ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season in Monaco.