{"id":1777996,"date":"2026-02-18T11:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1777996"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:15:20","slug":"novak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-after-qatar-open-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1777996","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic&#8217;s next tournament confirmed after Qatar Open withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Novak Djokovic\u2019s next tournament confirmed after Qatar Open withdrawal<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/shahidaj\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Shahida Jacobs                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"18 Feb 2026 11:15 AM\" data-ps-date=\"18 Feb 2026 11:15 AM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1771413320\"><br \/>\n                            18 Feb 2026 11:15 AM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/atp-tour\/novak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-qatar-open-withdrawal\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fnovak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-qatar-open-withdrawal\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to twitter\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fnovak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-qatar-open-withdrawal\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to linkedin\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/\/send\/?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fnovak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-qatar-open-withdrawal\" aria-label=\"Share to whatsapp\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fnovak-djokovics-next-tournament-confirmed-qatar-open-withdrawal\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Novak Djokovic\u2019s next tournament confirmed after Qatar Open withdrawal\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Djokovic-serves-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Novak Djokovic in action\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Novak Djokovic serves                             <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Indian Wells Open organisers have confirmed that Novak Djokovic will feature at this year\u2019s ATP Masters 1000 event, announcing on social media that the tennis great \u201cis coming back to Tennis Paradise!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tag\/novak-djokovic\">Djokovic<\/a> has played only one tournament so far this year and that was the Australian Open at Melbourne Park where he reached the final before losing in four sets against Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n<p>He also entered the Adelaide International ahead of the hard-court Grand Slam, but withdrew as he felt he was not \u201cphysicallly ready\u201d to compete while he also pulled out of this week\u2019s Qatar Open due to \u201cstrong fatigue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-time Grand Slam winner doesn\u2019t have any tournament scheduled for the final week of February, but he will be in action at the start of March with the Sunshine Double kicking off at Indian Wells.<\/p>\n<p>In an Instagram post, organisers announced: \u201cA legend returns. 20 years after his debut here, Novak Djokovic is coming back to Tennis Paradise!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Novak Djokovic News<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-feels-greek-dinner-stefanos-tsitsipas\">Novak Djokovic \u2018feels Greek\u2019 as Stefanos Tsitsipas shares insight from dinner with tennis icon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-not-better-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-recency-bias\">\u2018Novak Djokovic destroyed Rafael Nadal\u2019 \u2013 Patrick Mouratoglou\u2019s telling story about Serb\u2019s \u2018aura\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Indian Wells Open was one of five ATP Masters tournaments on Djokovic\u2019s calendar in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The former world No 1 is a five-time Grand Slam winner at the California hard-court event, but he has struggled the past two years as he lost in the second round against Botic van de Zandschulp in 2025 while the previous year he was beaten in the third round by Luca Nardi.<\/p>\n<p>Before that, he missed three consecutive Indian Wells events as he opted not to compete for various reasons, while the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>You have to go back to 2016 for the last time Djokovic reached the latter stages of the ATP 1000 event as he won the last of his five titles that year, beating Milos Raonic in the final. The Serbian won his other titles in 2015, 2014, 2011 and 2008.<\/p>\n<p>A top field is expected at Indian Wells with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner set to be the top seeds with Djokovic likely to get the third seed spot ahead of Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Mussetti, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton and Alexander Bublik.<\/p>\n<p>Although Djokovic is yet to confirm his schedule for the rest of the year, he is expected to compete at the Miami Open \u2013 a tournament he has won six times \u2013 as he made his return to the ATP 1000 tournament last year following a five-year absence.<\/p>\n<p>After that the focus will switch to the clay-court season with the first event likely to be the Monte Carlo Masters.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic\u2019s next tournament confirmed after Qatar Open withdrawal Shahida Jacobs 18 Feb 2026 11:15 AM Novak Djokovic serves Indian Wells Open organisers have confirmed that Novak Djokovic will feature at this year\u2019s ATP Masters 1000 event, announcing on social media that the tennis great \u201cis coming back to Tennis Paradise!\u201d Djokovic has played only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1777996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1777996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1777996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1777996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1777996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}