Fire, following Roger Federer’s path, and doubles: What to expect from Novak Djokovic’s return in Cincinnati

Novak Djokovic returns to American soil this week for the first time since seeing his Calendar Slam dreams ended in the final of the 2021 US Open.

Djokovic was unable to play in North America in 2022 or earlier this year as entry rules required international travellers to be vaccinated for Covid-19. Djokovic is unvaccinated, but the laws have since changed and the world No. 2 is able to play this week’s Cincinnati Masters and the upcoming US Open.

What are the key areas to look out for as Djokovic starts his preparations for the US Open later this month?

Having missed out on playing in North America for the last 18 months, it was expected that Djokovic would jump straight back in by competing at the Canadian Open last week.

Given he hasn’t played the event since 2018, it would have been a chance to secure some ranking points as he looks to close the gap on world No. 1 Alcaraz.

He could be slightly rusty, especially as he hasn’t played a hard-court event since the start of March, but he will likely also be refreshed.

Roger Federer saw the benefits in 2015 when he took extra time off after losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. He didn’t play the Canadian Open and then returned in Cincinnati and beat Djokovic to lift the trophy.

“I just realised over all the years that I’ve played it’s just really difficult to win back‑to‑back Montreal and Cincinnati, or Toronto and Cincinnati for that matter,” Federer explained afterwards.

“So I just chose to roll the dice a little bit and see how things were going to go. If they went great here then it was a great plan. If not, I was going to go back and practice and be really motivated for the US Open to start.”

Djokovic will be looking to use the Cincinnati Masters to fine-tune his game ahead of the US Open, where he has the chance to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles.

“I like the feeling that I have after 20 plus years of professional tennis. There’s still fire going,” he said ahead of Cincinnati.

“There’s still that drive and motivation to really come at the biggest events in sport and try to win, try to win titles and try to bring some good sensation to the crowds.”

Djokovic not only holds the all-time record for the most Masters titles won with 38, two ahead of Rafael Nadal and 10 ahead of Roger Federer, but he is also the only player to ever win all nine Masters events at least once.

And not just once. He is at least a two-time champion at every Masters tournament and is a three-time winner at all-but two of them: Monte Carlo and Cincinnati.

Monte Carlo has not been a successful event for Djokovic in recent years, with two match wins across his last three appearances.

But his recent results in Cincinnati are much better. After losing in five finals, he got his hands on the trophy for the first time in 2018, made the semis in 2019, and then lifted the trophy again in 2020.

He hasn’t played the tournament since then, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him quickly back into the swing of things.

There’s also the carrot of ranking points that could help him overhaul Alcaraz as world No. 1.

Djokovic is currently 600 points behind Alcaraz but has a maximum of 4,000 to gain in Cincinnati and the US Open, while Alcaraz made the quarter-finals in Cincinnati in 2022 and is defending champion in New York.

Djokovic will have a heavy workload in Cincinnati, teaming up with fellow Serb Nikola Cacic in the men’s doubles as well as playing singles.

The pair played together at the Davis Cup Finals and ATP Cup in 2021, and could team up again at the Davis Cup later year, and perhaps at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

It will be Djokovic’s first doubles appearance since he played with Vasek Pospisil in Adelaide at the start of the season.

Djokovic and Cacic are set to open against Michael Venus and Jamie Murray on Tuesday.

Djokovic’s singles campaign starts on Wednesday.

After waiting over a year for Djokovic and Alcaraz to meet for the second time, their two matches in just over a month did not disappoint.

First Djokovic got the better of Alcaraz at the French Open when the occasion got the better of Alcaraz. Then Alcaraz flipped the script in stunning fashion as he beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.

Right now they are clearly the best two players on the ATP Tour, and their fourth meeting can’t come soon enough.

Even Djokovic was looking forward to it after losing to Alcaraz at Wimbledon.

“I hope we get to play in US Open,” he said.

“Why not? I think it’s good for the sport, No. 1 and No. 2 in the world facing each other in almost a five-hours, five-set thriller. Couldn’t be better for our sport in general, so why not?”