Novak Djokovic Gave 2 Reasons Why He Hasn't Played Since Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic is playing far fewer tournaments than usual this year. In fact, Djokovic has not played a singles match since his loss to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-final on July 11.

Following the conclusion of Djokovic's grass court campaign, the 24-time Grand Slam champion decided to skip all of the North American hard court swing of the ATP schedule.

When asked about balancing rest and preparation, Djokovic assured the press that he had put in "a lot of training" over the past three or four weeks. He also offered two clear reasons why he has not played since Wimbledon.

"I decided not to play because I wanted to spend more time with my family. And to be honest, I think I earned my right and have the luxury of kind of choosing, picking and choosing where I want to go and what I want to play," explained Djokovic.

Djokovic also added a second component to his scheduling decisions, "To be quite frank with you, I don't enjoy the two-week Masters events anymore. It's just way too long for me. My focus is mostly on the Slams, and I have said that before."

"But I also like other tournaments, I'd like to play more of the other tournaments, but I just, we have currently informally or unofficially, 12 Grand Slams a year, when you think about it. I mean, Grand Slam is two weeks, and the other Masters events are almost two weeks, as well."

Djokovic took a deep sigh before adding, "So yeah, it's just not any more prioritizing the heavy schedule as I used to. I'm not chasing the rankings or building up my points or defending, or etc. I just don't think about it anymore."

"Slams are obviously the four main tournaments where I always feel the most motivation," said the 38-year-old. "I don't actually have any schedule other than slams, to be honest.

Djokovic explained it's more about where he finds inspiration and joy before circling back to the matter of time with his family. He mentioned that he could miss his daughter's birthday on September 2.

"But those are types of things that I really don't want to be missing anymore. So it's just on a personal level for me important to be there, to show up, you know, for the people that have been showing up for me for all these years playing tennis."

Djokovic is the ATP World No. 7 with a record of 26-9 with one singles title. The US Open singles tournament runs from August 24 to September 7. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.

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