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Dominic Thiem Barcelona champion
Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News

Defending champion Dominic Thiem ditches Barcelona to play Belgrade instead


Defending champion Dominic Thiem has decided to skip Barcelona this year to play the new ATP 250 tournament in Belgrade instead.

Barcelona has not been played since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it is due to return next month.

When it does, it will produce a new champion, with Thiem opting to join Novak Djokovic in Serbia instead.

This year will be the first time Belgrade has hosted an ATP Tour event since 2012, with the Hungarian Open relocating to the Serbian capital.

As you’d expect, the Djokovic family are heavily involved, with Djordje Djokovic, Novak’s brother, the tournament director.

That association with the world number one has helped attract a strong field, with Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic joined in the entry list by world number ten Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils, and Stan Wawrinka.

Thiem’s decision means that he will drop 250 of the points he won in Barcelona in 2019, although he will have the chance to replace them by winning Belgrade.

Other names currently signed up for Belgrade include Aslan Karatsev, Dusan Lajovic, Marton Fucsovics, and John Millman.


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.