Djokovic pulls out of Madrid in quest for French Open holy grail

Defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (7/4 to claim two Grand Slams this year), like Roger Federer for many years, can now afford to pick and chose his tournaments on the ATP Tour, as he sits so far on top of the rankings.

Out of the current top 35 in the world, just two players have entered fewer competitions in the calendar year than the Serb, Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and yet he is still over 5000 points ahead of the second-placed Swiss. He is also more than double the ranking points above the rest of the world.

Despite Djokovic currently being the best in the world, and setting a new record in 2015 being the first man to ever win the first three Masters events of the season, he is still yet to lift the French Open.

As a result, the 27-year-old is seemingly preparing himself as best he can as this year is arguably the best chance he’ll get, given clay court specialist Rafael Nadal’s injury issues, Federer’s slight decline and Andy Murray lacking form.

So, for the second year running, Djokovic has decide to pull out of the Madrid Open, in order to rest and focus on the Rome Masters and Roland Garros.

“He’ll take time out before continuing with his planned calendar,” the event organisers confirmed.

The Serb is a twice runner-up in France, but is the odds-on 5/6 favourite with Coral to finally one of the very few tournaments in tennis that has eluded him.

If he were to claim the clay crown, he would join the likes of current counterparts Federer and Nadal in winning the Career Slam, and be the eighth man ever to achieve the feat.

Few would back against Djokovic to lift all four of the biggest trophies this year, after he beat Murray in the Australian Open final. No one, not even Federer, in the modern era has managed that in the modern era, although Rod Laver (twice) and Don Budge have done so.