Novak Djokovic pulls out of Miami Open 2026

Dubai: Novak Djokovic has pull out of the Miami Open due to a shoulder injury. The world No 3, who finished runner-up in 2025 at Miami, recently reached the fourth round at Indian Wells Masters but lost a demanding three-set match to British star Jack Draper.

By pulling out of this year’s tournament, he will drop the 650 ranking points he earned for that result and is expected to fall outside the world’s top three.

The Serbian star is a six-time champion in Miami but has not played the event regularly in recent years. He reached the fourth round in 2019 and did not return to the tournament until making the final again last March.

Djokovic had already revealed he was managing an injury during the past fortnight at Indian Wells. The 38-year-old wore an arm sleeve throughout the tournament, though it initially raised little concern as he had recently announced a collaboration with Incrediwear on a line of recovery sleeves.

However, before his fourth-round match against Draper, Djokovic told Tennis Channel he had been struggling with a forearm issue.

“I’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks with that forearm and trying to go through. It’s a bit odd — the more I serve, the better I feel, but then it comes on and off if I get cold,” he explained.

“If I don’t serve for five or six minutes, then the first couple of serves in that game are a bit painful. I’m working through it. It’s not something I haven’t faced before. It’s the ins and outs of being a tennis player at this level, but overall the body is feeling okay. Hopefully it’s going to get better every day.”

Despite reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time in nine years, Djokovic never looked entirely comfortable. He dropped sets to Kamil Majchrzak and Aleksandar Kovacevic in his opening matches before falling 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) to eventual 2025 champion Draper.

During the match, Djokovic won a spectacular 26-shot rally early in the third set but later suggested the effort may have taken too much out of him. He was broken soon after, though he managed to break back when Draper served for the match. Ultimately, the contest was decided in a tiebreak.

“One point made the difference,” Djokovic said afterward.

“It cost me a break after. It was great winning that point, but I completely ran out of gas and only started to feel better toward the end of the third set. He played a sloppy game at 5-4 and the crowd got behind me, so I felt the energy and thought maybe I could take it. It was so close. Just a few unfortunate mistakes from my side. In the tiebreak I was up 4-3, then it was 5-5. That’s tennis.”