Novak Djokovic and Miomir Kecmanovic withdrew from the 2023 Paris Masters doubles tournament in the last minute, already while their opponents waited on the court.
Before the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season started, fans were surprised to see the experienced Serbian on the doubles entry list. He teamed up with his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic, and already the first-round match was supposed to be interesting.
The Serbian duo was supposed to face Stan Wawrinka and Jannik Sinner, but that match didn't happen. After the Swiss player ended his singles match at 2 AM the same day, the Swiss-Italian duo withdrew from the match.
Djokovic and Kecmanovic, therefore, played against Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov, and the match was a comfortable cruise for them, as they bested their opponents in two sets 6-4, 6-2.
In the second round of the tournament, the world no. 1 in singles and his partner were set to meet the third-seeded team, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, but the match wasn't played.
Only a few hours before the doubles match was supposed to start, Djokovic defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry in his first singles match since he helped his country qualify for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Final Eight.
That's also one of the main reasons why he signed up for the doubles in Paris. The 24-time Grand Slam champion wanted to practice doubles with Kecmanovic with whom he'll likely team up also at the Davis Cup Finals in a bid to win the trophy for his country.
After a very successful first-round match, the Serbian duo didn't elect to step onto the court also for their second match, also probably because Djokovic finished his singles match only shortly before it started.
However, officially, it was Kecmanovic who withdrew from the match, as the 24-year-old seemingly struggles with a wrist issue, and with the Davis Cup Finals coming up, he certainly doesn't want to risk making the injury worse.
The situation that surrounded the withdrawal was quite weird, as it seemed that no one knew that the Serbian duo won't play. Bopanna and Ebden arrived to Court 1 in Paris, awaiting their opponents.
The small court was packed with fans, as they all wanted to see Djokovic in action again. Yet, that match didn't happen as after a few minutes, the umpire announced that the Serbian duo withdrew from the match.
That means the end of the tournament in Paris for Kecmanovic, who lost in the first round to Etcheverry, who lost to Djokovic earlier on Wednesday. On the other hand, the Indian-Australian pairing made it to the quarterfinals without having to lift their racquets, as they had a first-round bye.
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