Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the upcoming Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha due to strong fatigue, the tournament announced Wednesday.
The 38-year-old Serbian reached his 11th Australian Open final lost month, when he fell to World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in four sets. Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the top two seeds at the hard-court ATP 500 event in Doha, which begins Monday.
Alcaraz fell to Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals of his Doha debut last year, and Sinner is making his first appearance at the event. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Bublik, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are among the other Top 20 players in the PIF ATP Rankings who feature in this year's field.
Djokovic, who won back-to-back titles in Doha in 2016-17, owns a 15-3 tournament record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He is next scheduled to compete at the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, where he ties Roger Federer (5) for the most titles.