Novak Djokovic Wants Australian Open to Take Place in March

World Number one tennis player, Novak Djokovic was asked about the changes which he wishes to see in the field of tennis. The Serb replied about rescheduling the Grand Slam tournaments and suggested an alternative agenda for the same. “The schedule, I would arrange the tournaments a bit different. Especially giving players more rest,” Djokovic told Sport Klub (Serbian Media).

During a tennis season, there’s a 15-week gap between the first major tournament, Australian Open and the second major tournament, French Open. As soon as, Roland-Garros concludes, the tennis players make a quick transition to grass and get on-board for the third Grand Slam event of the year, Wimbledon.

“I think it makes no sense to have that big of a break between the Australian Open and Roland Garros. I would put Melbourne somewhere probably in March and leave two, two and a half months without any tournaments. I would also put Slams a bit further away, so that Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open weren’t that close together,” Novak Djokovic shared.   

During the months of May and June, tennis players face the utmost difficulty, as within a short interval of time, the tennis professional switch from slow clay courts to fast grass courts and it is taxing task for the players to get adapted to the surface change in a very short time. Moreover, the professionals spend about 6-8 weeks on European clay. 

The hard-court swing (also two ATP 500 events are carried out on clay during that time) begins right after the Wimbledon finals, which incorporates of two Masters 1000 events in North America and in a blink of an eye the US Open gets underway.

In a nutshell, with the present schedule of tennis, the professionals do not get ample time to relax and get accustomed to the transitions of the surfaces, and Djokovic’s perspective of the rescheduling tournaments seems appropriate. 

Lastly, the ‘Djoker’ of tennis was hilarious about bringing another change to tennis, and he said, “and everybody has to play against me left-handed for a set.”

At US Open 2019, Novak Djokovic will play the Argentine, Juan Ignacio Londero in the second round.