Novak Djokovic is on pace to miss the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin, and according to the man himself, it's not an issue because he doesn’t care about the tournament anymore.
Djokovic seems to be entering the final stage of his career, in which the only events he cares about are Grand Slams. It's been like that for a while, but he has become even more focused on the majors as time went by.
He still played some other events up until this year, but it seems like he will change that. Looking at last year’s ATP Finals, he wanted to be there and tried extremely hard to win the event, which he ultimately did.
He won the ATP Finals by beating Jannik Sinner in the final, so clearly, he still cared about that tournament. He wouldn’t have been there and fought to win the trophy if he didn’t.
This year, things are a bit different. Djokovic has generally looked quite disinterested in some of the events, including Grand Slams, such as the most recent one at the US Open.
Talking after his Davis Cup match in Belgrade, where he started with a dominant win, Djokovic admitted that he was not thinking about the ATP Finals.
He even went as far as to say that he’s not chasing the ATP Finals or the rankings in any way. He’s not going to concern himself with that because, for now, he’s only focused on the Grand Slams and the national team.
"Torino is not my goal at all, to be honest, I am not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings etc. As far as I am concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career (smiling)."
"Whether I will play 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."
That started a discussion that the Serbian might not be playing any other tournament this year, which would be remarkable for Djokovic. Time will tell how serious that claim is, but Djokovic might really reduce his schedule to extremes.
The current ATP Race to Turin sees him as ninth in the rankings, one spot behind the last qualifying spot. He trails Alex de Minaur by about 50 points for the eighth spot, so technically, he’s within reach of making the ATP Finals, but it will largely depend on how many events he plays.
He won’t play as many events as those around him, so there is a good chance that he could simply fail to qualify for the year-end championship in Turin, where he's the defending champion.
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