Djokovic ready to return at the Madrid Masters as 'Big Four' reunite

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  • Djokovic is playing in Madrid for the first time since 2013.

    Djokovic was stunned in his opening match in Monte Carlo by world No65 Czech Jiri Vesely, to lose for the first time in 2016 other than when he was forced to retire with an eye infection against Feliciano Lopez in Dubai back in February.

    The Serb’s absence cleared the way for Nadal to land his first Masters title in nearly two years and the Spaniard extended his perfect start to the European clay-court season by claiming a ninth Barcelona Open last week to equal Guillermo Vilas’s record of 49 titles on the surface.

    Nadal will be eager to claim his 50th clay trophy on home soil having reached the final in Madrid in six of the past seven years, although he was comprehensively beaten by Andy Murray as the Briton claimed his first Masters title on clay in last year’s final.

    Djokovic, like the rest of the top eight seeds in Madrid, has a bye in the first round and awaits the winner of the first round clash between Croatian teenager Borna Coric – who is often compared to Djokovic in terms of game style and discipline – and Spanish veteran Nicolas Almagro.

    The Serb has been drawn in the same quarter of the draw as French No7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No11 seed Milos Raonic, with a potential semi-final against sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori or fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka.

    Nadal has landed on the opposite side of the draw, in Murray’s half, and could square-off with Roger Federer in a mouth-watering quarter-final. The Spanish world No5 faces Andrey Kuznetsov ir Viktor Troicki in his opener at the Caja Magica.

    Murray, who opens against a qualifier or Canadian Vasek Pospisil, has had an inconsistent season so far but is looking forward to defending his title.

    Despite Djokovic’s dominance over the past year, Murray believes the 11-time grand slam champion can be stopped in the tournament that starts on Sunday.

    “Everyone and anyone can be beaten, but at the moment Novak’s consistency is making him just that little bit harder to beat,” said Murray. “He has incredibly consistent ground strokes, so he likes to draw the points out. I think more and more guys are trying to make the points against him shorter, they’ll move into the net a bit earlier and put him under pressure.

    “However he has the ability to make shots from everywhere so it doesn’t always work.

    “It’s good to have multiple game plans against him, if one isn’t working you can switch to something different, it’s important to keep him guessing and make him as uncomfortable as possible.”

    Federer, who was shocked by Nick Kyrgios in his first match in Madrid last year, will be playing just his fourth match since the Australian Open having missed over two months of action due to knee surgery.

    The Swiss has landed in a tricky section of the draw that could see him take on one of Benoit Paire, Jack Sock, Dominic Thiem or Juan Martin del Potro in the third round.

    Spain’s top two ladies, Carla Suarez Navarro and Garbine Muguruza, along with top two seeds Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber, as well as defending champion Petra Kvitova are all in action in Madrid.

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