Novak Djokovic has released his schedule for the first quarter of 2017, and it could prove beneficial for Andy Murray keeping his spot at the summit of the ATP World Rankings.
Djokovic published his schedule for the three months of the 2017 season on his official website. The World No. 2 will start his campaign at the Qatar Open in Doha before competing in the first Grand Slam event of the year in Australia. Djokovic would then skip the Dubai Tennis Championship in February and would return for Indian Wells and Miami the following month.
Djokovic has to defend 4,250 points as the winner in the mentioned events, despite the relatively small schedule for the first quarter of 2017. Interestingly, it could also give Murray a very good chance of retaining his place atop the world rankings, with the world No. 1 set to play one more event than Djokovic in Dubai, reports Tennis World.
"Murray can also get valuable points in Indian Wells and Miami in 2017, since he doesn't have more points to defend in these tournaments next year," the report stated.
After a remarkable start to the 2016 season, completing a non-calendar Grand Slam in his first French Open title, Djokovic suffered a handful of disappointing losses that led to the Serb losing the top spot in the ATP world rankings to Murray, who has consistently been a challenger for Nole in major events.
But in spite of Djokovic's recent skid, many expect the 12-time Grand Slam winner to regain No. 1 in 2017, including former world No. 1 Pat Rafter.
"Djokovic will have a half-decent year again and win a couple slams," Rafter told CNN's Open Court.
Career rival Roger Federer, who is making a much-anticipated return to the tennis scene next year, also believes Djokovic could be at the summit of the world rankings again, but insisted that it may not happen immediately.
"I expect Novak to be No. 1 at some point again in his career," Federer said, reports Tennis. "It'll be hard in the next few months because of the sheer domination he had at the beginning of this year, so I think Andy will hang on to it for a while.
Djokovic and Murray could quickly reignite their rivalry at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha on Jan. 2, 2017.