Djokovic's Adelaide warm-up: a precision serve toward Melbourne's Grand Slam battleground
16 December 2025
Adelaide warm-up for Djokovic
Serbian star Novak Djokovic will play in the Adelaide International, a 250-point event, from January 12 to 17 as a warm-up for the Australian Open. He aims to win a historic eleventh title here and push his Grand Slam total toward 25.
Rivals and form
The 38-year-old, currently world No. 4, has previously captured this event in 2007 and 2023. Last year he participated in Brisbane, where he was beaten in the quarterfinals by American Reilly Opelka, before reaching Melbourne's semifinal where he fell to German player Alexander Zverev.
Except for 2017, when injuries sidelined him, Djokovic has won at least one Grand Slam title in every year between 2010 and 2023. His latest major crown came at the 2023 US Open, after which Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner shared most of the year's big titles.
In ATP events during 2025 he claimed titles in Geneva in May and Athens in November, though he withdrew from the year-end ATP Finals after Athens. In Adelaide, notable entrants include Britain's Jack Draper, Brazilian Joao Fonseca, American Tommy Paul and Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic's form, experience and the Adelaide crowd should make for a compelling lead-in to Melbourne, with every match offering a potential stepping-stone toward another Grand Slam run.
Punchline 1: Djokovic's serves are so precise they could file taxes for you. Punchline 2: If Adelaide doesn't have a trophy for him, he'll borrow one from the Australian Open—it's basically a glory swap meet.
