‘Best my body has felt in two years’ – Djokovic prepares for return in Cincinnati
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Djokovic came within two wins of registering a historic 25th Grand Slam crown at the All England Club last month, but he was beaten 6-4 6-4 6-4 by Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.The former world No. 1 made the admission ahead of his first match at the Cincinnati Open, where he will go head-to-head with Thiago Agustin Tirante on Saturday.The tournament will serve as a warm-up for the 2026 US Open, where 39-year-old Djokovic is set to be in action, and the Serbian star says that he was keen to be involved in at least one tournament ahead of his return to Flushing Meadows.
“Well, I honestly wanted to have at least one tournament coming into the US Open,” he said.
“I haven’t played since Wimbledon, and my body reacted quite well after Wimbledon. It was the best that my body felt after any Grand Slam in the last two years, to be honest.”
“Any other Grand Slam I played in the last two years there was some kind of injury with different severity.
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“So this time I was healthy, and I really wanted to play. I kind of missed it, and here I am.”
Djokovic won the 24th Grand Slam of his illustrious career at the 2023 US Open, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final.
He has fallen to defeat in two finals since then, losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of Wimbledon 2024 and the 2026 Australian Open.
The 2026 US Open will get underway on August 23, with the final scheduled for September 13.
Djokovic’s involvement in Cincinnati will see him return to a tournament that he first won in 2018.
He fell to defeat in the final of the tournament five times before eventually beating Roger Federer to lift the trophy for the first time.
“I have great memories of this tournament, even though it took me a while to win my first title here,” he added. “I think I played four or five finals before winning it for the first time against Roger.
“In fact, in most of those finals I played before, I lost to him. It was a difficult obstacle for me to overcome. But once I obtained my first title, I felt immense relief.
“I received a lot of support here from Chicago and Ohio. The Serbian community is very large.
“That’s what I remember from the 2023 final and the 2018 final. There were quite a few Serbian flags in the stadium. It was very beautiful.”
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