Novak Djokovic will start his 2025 tennis season at the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, which begins 29 December. Andy Murray, who Djokovic hired as his new coach for the Australian Open, is not currently planning on being there, a member of his team confirmed to The Athletic.

Djokovic, who last year admitted to struggling with motivation for tournaments outside of Grand Slams and the Olympics — where he finally won gold in August — has taken a different view ahead of 2025.

“I will play more tournaments,” he said in an interview with Gazzetto dello Sport, adding that he is refreshed and ready to challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who he views as the two best players in the world, for Grand Slam titles in the coming season.

Djokovic said he was “done” with paying attention to his ATP Tour ranking at a Davis Cup news conference in September, but it will be key to his chances of meeting Alcaraz and Sinner in semifinals and finals rather than earlier in the Grand Slams he wants the most.

Djokovic, who at 37 has 24 major titles, remains in search of the 25th which would take him past Margaret Court’s record tally. Ranked No. 7, he could face world No. 1 Sinner at the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open, which begins January 12.

He won the Adelaide International last year, another 250-level tournament held the week before the Australian Open, before losing to eventual champion Sinner at the semifinal stage in Melbourne. It was his first-ever defeat in a semifinal or final at the tournament, which he has won 10 times, more than any other major.

Nick Kyrgios will also return to tennis in Brisbane. He is in the draw alongside Grigor Dimitrov (world No. 10), Holger Rune (No. 13) and Americans Frances Tiafoe (No. 18) and Sebastian Korda (No. 22).

Women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will start her season at the WTA 500 event in the same city, which also begins December 29.

U.S. Open finalist Jessica Pegula (No. 7) and semifinalist Emma Navarro (No. 8) — both of whom lost to Sabalenka in New York — will join the Belarusian alongside Diana Shnaider (No. 13), Mirra Andreeva (No. 16) and former Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, who is returning from a shoulder injury. Jabeur is now ranked world No. 42 after her layoff, and will be seeking a deep run for any chance of a seeding at the first major of the year in Melbourne.

World No. 3 Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek, the world No. 2 who was last week banned for an anti-doping violation, will play the United Cup, the mixed team event that starts in Perth December 27. Swiatek’s one-month ban was issued Wednesday November 27, but she served 22 days of it in September and October while provisionally suspended. It expires tomorrow, Thursday December 5.

‘For the first time in recent memory ranking points might have to be a concern’

Analysis from tennis writer Charlie Eccleshare

Given how dismissively Djokovic spoke about non-Grand Slam and team events as recently as September, the decision to play Brisbane is pretty striking. 

Djokovic is looking to tweak the formula that has generally been so successful for him — using the early rounds of Grand Slams as his warm-up as opposed to the warm-up events themselves. It makes sense given last season, with Djokovic failing to win multiple titles in a calendar year for the first time since 2005.  

It means that Djokovic is ranked a lowly No. 7. For the first time in recent memory ranking points might have to be a concern — like a former millionaire who’s fallen on harder times and suddenly needs to watch their spending.

Djokovic has generally been able to play a very light schedule, knowing that he’ll still turn up for the Grand Slams as the man to beat; by winning or going deep in those events, he maintains his ranking without having to rely on other tournaments. There have also been times when Djokovic’s seeding at a major has barely been relevant anyway as he’s been so far ahead of the rest of the field. With Sinner and Alcaraz at the level they’re at now and Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz on the upswing that’s no longer the case.

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We’ll see if Djokovic does end up playing more regularly in the coming months. He did play a warm-up event in Adelaide before the Australian Open in 2023 so this isn’t uncharted territory. But back then Djokovic was coming in as the undisputed favorite for Melbourne, as he’s tended to be during the last 15 years. The fact that he’s not the favorite this time around is what makes his choice of Australian Open preparation more intriguing.

(Top photo: Sarah Reed / Getty Images)