Djokovic's ranking is an irrelevance to his wider tennis ambitions but now more than ever, he needs it to help him achieve them.

Novak Djokovic has confessed that he may have already played the Madrid Open for the final time after suffering a shock defeat to Matteo Arnaldi. The world No. 5 has now lost in the opening round in four of his last five tournaments, a far cry from the days of dominance when he would go on 40-plus-match winning streaks.

Novak Djokovic is back at the Mutua Madrid Open after skipping the past two editions, but based on this vision from a recent training session, it doesn’t appear to be going that smoothly. With local hero Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing at the last minute, the spotlight has naturally shifted to the Serbian.