Novak Djokovic received a massive boost to his chances of qualifying for the 2024 ATP Finals after the struggles of his closest rivals.
In his tennis career, there weren't many seasons when Djokovic would have to worry about qualifying for the ATP Finals. In fact, since 2007, he missed out on the spot at the year-end championship only once, back in 2017, when he didn't finish the season because of an injury.
Apart from that, he competed every single year, and he's actually also the most successful tennis player in the history of the ATP Finals. The 37-year-old Serbian won a record seven titles at the event, including four consecutive, and reached nine finals, one less than Roger Federer.
He also played 16 editions, which is one less than Federer, and matching this mark is certainly something that Djokovic would want to do. Given how restricted schedule he plans to play in 2025, this season might be his last chance.
However, up until recently, he wasn't even in the Top 8 of the 2024 ATP Race to Turin, but that changed with his run to the final of the Shanghai Masters, where he lost to Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic is now 6th in the ATP Race, but very close to being out of the Top 8 positions. On top of that, he will likely play only one more tournament in the remainder of the season - the Paris Masters.
Currently with 3,910 points, the 24-time Grand Slam champion sits ahead of the seventh Casper Ruud, who has 3,845 points to his name, but the Norwegian significantly helped Djokovic in recent weeks.
He lost in his first match at the Japan Open, Ruud also lost in the first round of the Shanghai Masters, and he also lost in the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open. Had he performed just a bit better, Ruud could have been much closer to sealing the ATP Finals spot.
But he isn't the only one struggling, which boosts his but also Djokovic's chances. Andrey Rublev, who is eighth with 3,620 points, lost in his opening match at the Shanghai Masters, and he also lost in the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open.
Alex de Minaur, who is the ninth player in the ATP Race with 3,355 points, didn't do any better. He played at the European Open in Antwerp, and he lost already in the quarter-finals as well, which is the same stage that 12th Stefanos Tsitsipas, with 2,875 points, was eliminated in as well.
The only two players who caught up significantly to the Top 8 were Tommy Paul and Grigor Dimitrov, who played in the final of the Stockholm Open. Paul, who won the title, now has 3,135 points, while Dimitrov has 3,100 points.
With all of these players struggling, Djokovic's chances of qualifying are looking more and more likely. Three players would need to overtake him for the Serbian to miss out on the spot, and that seems unlikely, given that ninth De Minaur in the race is more than 500 points behind the experienced Serbian.
However, all of these players have one advantage over Djokovic, and that's that they will play more tournaments, as they are all signed up to compete at the ATP 500 tournaments in Vienna and Basel this week.
Ruud, Rublev, and Tsitsipas will compete at the Swiss Indoors, while De Minaur, Paul, and Dimitrov will compete at the Vienna Open. They can then also play one of the two ATP 250 tournaments after the Paris Masters, further boosting their chances of qualifying.