He beat Djokovic last year but is winless in 2026 so far

Novak Djokovic will be hoping for a better result when he returns to the Madrid Open this year.

Djokovic skipped the Miami Open and the Monte Carlo Masters, but he has been confirmed to return at the Madrid Open.

The Serbian has good memories at the Madrid Open, with Djokovic winning three titles at the Masters 1000 tournament.

However, Djokovic could not win his fourth title in the Spanish capital last year, as he lost his only match at the tournament.

Matteo Arnaldi’s form has dropped off since his Madrid Open win over Novak Djokovic

Djokovic came into last year’s Madrid Open still looking for his first win on clay that season, having lost his only previous match at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion was seeded fourth and faced Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who was ranked 44th in the world at the time.

It was their first meeting, and not many expected it to end with Arnaldi coming out on top.

Arnaldi pulled off a straight-sets win, 6-3, 6-4, handing Djokovic his worst result at the tournament since 2018.

The Italian didn’t stop there. He went on to beat Damir Dzumhur and Frances Tiafoe to reach the quarter-finals before Jack Draper ended his run.

That performance helped Arnaldi climb back into the top 40 of the rankings, reaching a career-high of world No. 30, but he hasn’t managed to hit those heights again.

Since then, he’s won just eight main draw matches on tour and is still searching for his first ATP Tour win in 2026.

This year alone, Arnaldi has played five main draw matches without a win, taking just one set across those defeats. Though he’s won two qualifying matches in that stretch, none have translated into main draw victories yet this season.

Matteo Arnaldi faces uncertain path back to Madrid Open main draw in 2026

This time around, Arnaldi finds himself with 200 points to defend, but there’s a chance he won’t even make it into the main draw.

Now ranked 105th after a difficult stretch of results, he didn’t qualify automatically and will need to come through qualifying instead.

That sets up a crucial week for him. A significant chunk of his ranking—nearly a third—comes from last year’s Madrid performance, and without defending those points, he could slip out of the top 150.

Qualifying starts on Monday, April 20, and Arnaldi will be looking to tap into the good memories from last year as he tries to get back on track.

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