Novak Djokovic has been handed a huge boost in his hope to scrape into the end-of-season ATP Finals.
While the 24-time Grand Slam champion has insisted making it into the final eight in Turin is not a major target for him in the final weeks of 2024, he is heading to Shanghai to play in a Masters 1000 event and will also compete at the ATP Tour regular season finale at the Paris Masters next month.
A record-breaking seven-time ATP Finals champion, Djokovic has insisted he will not be concerned if he misses out on an appearance in Turin this year as he said: “Torino is not my goal at all, to be honest, I am not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings etc,” he told reporters in Serbia.
As far as I am concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career. Whether I will play in other tournaments this year or in the future, I can’t say right now.
“My main priorities are playing for the national team and Slams, everything else is less important.
“After that [Shanghai], I am going to see what I am going to do,” Djokovic added.
“Usually in my career I used to have my schedule ready six months in advance, but nowadays that’s not the case, now it’s more spontaneous.
Firstly, I need to physically, emotionally and mentally rest in order to even start thinking what I want to do next, in what way, how much and where.”
Djokovic will need to perform well in those two events to make the cut for the ATP Finals, where he would be looking to defend his title if he qualifies.
Djokovic is currently sitting in position No 9 in the race to qualify for Turin, with his qualification hopes out of hands as some of the players ahead of him are set to play more tournaments.
US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz is one of the players chasing a place at the ATP Finals and he would have been hoping to make progress at the Japan Open as he looks to boost his ranking point total for 2024.
Yet he lost his opening match against rising French star Arthur Fils, ensuring he would not get a chance to secure his place in Turin for a few more days at least.
Fritz is currently sitting in fifth place in the ATP Race and looks to be in good shape to make Turin, but Djokovic is 630 points behind him and could close that gap if he performs well in Shanghai.
Djokovic is more likely to overhaul Alex de Minaur in eighth place, as he is still struggling with the injury that forced him to pull out of Wimbledon in July and hampered him in his US Open quarter-final defeat against Britain’s Jack Draper.
De Minaur was not named in Australia’s team for the Davis Cup Finals in November, so it is unclear whether he will play again this year.
Djokovic could also overhaul Andrey Rublev in seventh place in the ATP Race, while Casper Ruud could also be in his sights in sixth place.
The Serbian may also need to look over his shoulder at players going past him if he stands by his decision to play a limited schedule in the next few weeks.
Grigor Dimitrov has had a good year and will fancy his chances of finishing on a high by appearing at the ATP Finals.
Queen’s Club champion Tommy Paul is also in the mix for Turin as he currently sits in 11th place in the ATP Race, but Stefanos Tsitsipas’ hopes of rising from his current position of 12 were dealt a blow as he lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 against American qualifier Alex Michelsen in Japan.
