Djokovic eyes first title of the year as he gears up for Rome challenge

Novak Djokovic will hope to ignite his season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he chases his first title of the year.

The top seed has not competed since reaching the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo last month and feels rested and ready to go in Rome.

“I had plenty of time to rest and train. Had a good training block,” Djokovic said during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday. “I arrived here two days ago to get a hit on the centre court, as well, obviously stay four or five days training before my first match with top players.

“Obviously it’s different when you train with them, playing practice sets, seeing where your game is at, kind of working your way towards the fine form for the first official match. Hopefully here in Rome I can play better than I did in Monte-Carlo. That’s the wish, obviously, is always to go far.”

Djokovic is aiming to earn his 1100th tour-level win in the Italian Capital, while a deep run would further cement his position at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, with nearest challengers Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz both missing the ATP Masters 1000 event due to injury.

The 36-year-old holds an 11-4 record in 2024 with his best result a semi-final run at the Australian Open. It is just the second time in six years that Djokovic has arrived in Rome having yet to win a title in the season.

The Serbian, who is being coached by Nenad Zimonjic, has been working hard off court in an attempt to change his fortunes at the clay-court event.

“I am working currently with a fitness coach that I worked with for many years. It didn’t take much time to adapt to his programme and approach,” said Djokovic, who played practice sets with Grigor Dimitrov and Holger Rune in recent days. “We know each other really well. That’s why I feel like we’re synchronised from the very beginning in terms of what we want to do, how we want to approach the programme of training on and off the court. With Nenad [Zimonjic] of course, as well.

“I’m pleased with the way the past 10 days, 14 days went in terms of training, in terms of preparation and looking ahead to this tournament.”

Djokovic, a six-time champion in Rome, will start his campaign against French lucky loser Corentin Moutet or Roman Safiullin on Friday. The seven-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Djokovic leads Safiullin 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, while he holds a 1-0 advantage against Moutet.