Dubai, Feb 19 (IANS): World No. 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, will be returning to competition on Monday when he begins his campaign at the Dubai Open on Monday (February 21), after courting controversy at the Australian Open last month.

The Dubai Open -- an ATP 500 event -- should be a strong starting point for Djokovic for the upcoming season after he was not allowed to compete in the opening Grand Slam of the year due to his unvaccinated COVID-19 status.

Djokovic, the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles and a five-time champion here in Dubai -- 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2020 -- was quoted as saying by tennis.com on Saturday that he was "excited" to play in Dubai.

"I always love Dubai. I love coming here. I've had plenty of tennis success here and I'm excited to go out on the tennis court next Monday. I miss tennis, honestly, after everything that has happened in the previous couple of months (Australian Open fiasco)," said Djokovic.

Dubai is one of nine tour-level events that the Serbian has won five times or more. The list also includes two of the four Grand Slams, the season-ending ATP Finals and four of the nine Masters 1000 events, according to the report.