It has been revealed where Novak Djokovic will play next – and the tennis great is set to stick to his intended tournament schedule despite concerns over his fitness.

The Serbian’s participation at the Indian Wells Masters has been confirmed, with the tournament’s social media account posting a picture of Djokovic with the following caption: “A legend returns to the desert.”

Indian Wells, which is the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season, will be held from March 5 to 16.

Djokovic suffered a tear in his left hamstring during his four-set win against Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open last month.

The injury forced Djokovic to retire after the first set of his semi-final with Alexander Zverev in Melbourne, but he made a swift recovery to return to action for this week’s Qatar Open.

The 37-year-old was beaten 7-6(4), 6-2 by Matteo Berrettini in the first round of the ATP 500 tournament and insisted afterwards that he felt fine physically.

“I didn’t have any pain or discomfort in that sense. I was outplayed by just a better player today,” Djokovic told reporters in Doha.

“Yes, I wasn’t at my desired level, and it could be that I’m still not moving the way I want to move, but, I mean, I played without pain, so there is no excuse in that.

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“He was just the better player. I think he played a masterclass match, to be honest, tactically, and served very well, so just a very deserved win from his side.”

Djokovic also played two matches in the Qatar Open doubles event as he reached the quarter-finals with Fernando Verdasco at the Spaniard’s last-ever event.

Despite Djokovic’s assertion that he played without pain, a video emerged of him appearing to limp as he entered an airport to depart from Doha.

This raised some fears that the world No 7 could have made his comeback from the hamstring tear too soon and suffered a recurrence, or that a different injury had surfaced.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner’s commitment to play in Indian Wells, though, suggests he is not worried about his physical state.

Djokovic has revealed he is “likely” to resume his player-coach collaboration with Andy Murray in Indian Wells after a hugely positive start to the relationship at the Australian Open.

The Serbian suffered a shock defeat to Luca Nardi in the third round of the 2024 Indian Wells Masters. That was his first appearance at the tournament in the Californian desert since 2019.

Djokovic is a five-time Indian Wells champion.

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