Novak Djokovic withdraws from 2025 Rome Open after early Madrid Open exit and one year on from bottle incident

Novak Djokovic will not be playing in the Rome Open (Italian Open also known as Internazionali BNL d'Italia) between 7-18 May, 2025 with the former World No.1 seemingly only playing Roland Garros now on his clay court quest.

Djokovic unlike last year has not signed up for any other tournaments currently meaning he won't play Geneva Open next week for instance currently like he did last year.

For the 24-time Grand Slam champion, it is perhaps not a surprise that he has withdrawn for various reasons. Last year was an experience that no doubt Djokovic won't forget as he had a water bottle dropped on his head.

At the time, he said that it had a lingering effect on him as the bottle dropped out of a fans bag after he beat Corentin Moutet. "

"That has really impacted me a lot. After that I got medical care, been through half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness and blood," Djokovic said at a news conference at the time. "I managed to sleep OK. I had headaches. The next day, or yesterday, was pretty fine, so I thought it's OK. Maybe it is OK, maybe it's not.

"The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot. It's a bit concerning."

But despite that, he went on to lose convincingly to Alejandro Tabilo the next round after the issues that surrounded the bottle incident and also the conspiracy theories from some that it was done on purpose.

Djokovic made the decision to play Madrid for the first time in many years this year before being well beaten by Matteo Arnaldi. He was pretty downbeat about himself afterwards and admitted it could be the last time he plays the event. Now he has withdrawn from Rome in the aftermath. Next stop likely is Roland Garros but the concerns continue.