Novak Djokovic to challenge Carlos Alcaraz in Astana

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

The third edition of the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan takes place between October 3-10. After two ATP 250 events with the players from the middle of the top-100, the organizers have raised the bar ahead of the 2022 edition. Astana has become an ATP 500 tournament, gathering 13 top-25 players and looking like one of the most important events below the Masters 1000 level!

After world no. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev, another major star has joined the field. The 21-time Major winner Novak Djokovic has taken a wild card and will debut in Astana in a couple of weeks.

Novak is currently in London, defending the Team Europe colors alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. Djokovic will play in Tel Aviv before heading to Nur-Sultan, hoping for good results after skipping the US Open.

The Serb is 23-5 this season, missing the Australian Open and the US Open and saving the year after winning the seventh Wimbledon crown. Novak had to skip the Australian Open after a terrible ten-day saga over his visa, and things did not look good for him then.

The Serb suffered early losses in Dubai and Monte Carlo in the following months before losing the final at home in Belgrade to Andrey Rublev. Building his form, Djokovic lost an epic battle against Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid semi-final and played on a high level a week later in Rome.

The Serb won the title without losing a set and lifted his 38th Masters 1000 trophy.

Novak Djokovic will compete at the ATP 500 event in Nur-Sultan.

Novak was ready for more at Roland Garros, playing as the defending champion in Paris and reaching the quarter-final without losing a set.

Djokovic faced his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, in a battle for the semi-final and experienced a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 loss in four hours and 12 minutes. Nadal saved eight out of 12 break chances and turned 43% of the return points into seven breaks from 17 opportunities to forge the advantage.

Djokovic recovered his game in the second set and built a 5-2 advantage in the fourth. The Serb wasted two set points on serve at 5-3 and dropped the tie break to propel the Spaniard through. Novak threw everything at Wimbledon and secured the seventh All England Club title for his 21st Major crown.

Djokovic trailed two sets to love against Jannik Sinner in the quarter-final before performing one of his memorable comebacks to remain on the title course. The Serb took down Nick Kyrgios in four sets in the title clash to defend the title and move one Wimbledon crown behind Roger Federer.

Novak could not play in Montreal, Cincinnati and New York, and will have more opportunities to compete in the rest of the season.