Tennis

Novak Djokovic makes injury return to crank up pressure on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer


Novak Djokovic has returned to a tennis court for the first time since withdrawing from the US Open.

The Serbian withdrew from the final Grand Slam of the year while two sets down against Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round.

A shoulder injury has left Djokovic sidelined for the past two weeks but he has now returned to action.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner has been captured hitting a variety of shots on a court in Belgrade.

Djokovic is hoping to defend his world No 1 ranking at the end of the year but is under pressure from his two biggest rivals.

The 32-year-old is just 640 ATP points ahead of Nadal and has 2,600 to defend after winning the Shanghai Masters title and reaching the final of the Paris Masters and ATP Finals last year.

However, Nadal has a free shot at every remaining event this campaign because his 2018 season drew to a premature end due to injury.

The Spaniard is also leading the live race by 1,960 points after his success at the US Open, where he won a 19th Grand Slam of his career.

Federer is some way behind both Djokovic and Nadal and is defending 1,620 points over the coming months.

But he has a realistic chance of finishing second in the standings with a strong run.

Djokovic will return to action at the Japan Open which gets underway on September 30.

He will then join Nadal and Federer at the Shanghai Masters.

Federer then travels home to try and defend his Swiss Indoors trophy before the trio again meet at the Paris Masters.

The regular season ends with the ATP Finals at London’s O2 Arena.

Finally, Nadal and Djokovic will link up with their fellow countryman for the Davis Cup finals in Madrid.



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