TENNIS: Djokovic returns to Cincinnati chasing 25th Grand Slam title

With the U.S. Open approaching, Novak Djokovic's return to the Cincinnati Open will test whether the 39-year-old can balance maintaining his physical condition while regaining match sharpness in his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title.

Since winning the U.S. Open in 2023, Djokovic has seen Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner emerge as the dominant forces in men's tennis. The young stars have shared 10 of the last 11 Grand Slam titles, making Djokovic's pursuit of further history increasingly challenging.

With limited time to add to his major tally and move ahead of Margaret Court in the all-time Grand Slam standings, Djokovic will return to Cincinnati, where he won the title in 2023 before carrying that momentum into his U.S. Open triumph.

"I'm happy to announce that I'm coming to the Cincinnati Open this year for the first time since 2023, when I played one of the best best-of-three finals in a Masters 1000 event in my career," Djokovic said in a social media post on Thursday.

"I can't wait to come back and perform in front of you. I'm very excited to see the fans. Tennis fans from around the world are going to be present at the tournament. See you soon."

The Cincinnati Open will run from August 13 to 23.

Cincinnati was the venue for one of Djokovic's most memorable recent victories. In the 2023 final, he defeated Alcaraz in a dramatic three-hour, 49-minute battle to claim his third title at the tournament before going on to win the U.S. Open.

Different phase of career

Nearly three years later, Djokovic enters a different stage of his career. While he remains capable of competing for the biggest titles, maintaining his peak level throughout a two-week Grand Slam tournament has become more difficult.

The Serbian has adjusted his schedule by skipping warm-up events before major tournaments. Despite that approach, he reached the Australian Open final and Wimbledon semi-finals this year.

"For 99% of the players, that would be a very good result," Djokovic said after losing to Sinner at Wimbledon.

"For me, it's good but not good enough, because I'm blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements."

"Of course, I still enjoy the thrill of competition. Maybe I don't enjoy the hard weeks leading up to a big tournament, putting myself over and over again through a lot of pain, physically mostly."

The Cincinnati Open will provide Djokovic with a final test of his form before the U.S. Open, where he will once again try to challenge Alcaraz and Sinner while pursuing another Grand Slam title.

The year's final Grand Slam tournament begins on August 30. -Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul/Reuters