Novak Djokovic will not compete at the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin after he announced his withdrawal from the year-end championship.
The 37-year-old Serbian player is a legend at many tournaments all around the world, and the ATP Finals is one of those tournaments. He won the event seven times, more than any other player, including four consecutive titles.
He played the second-most finals behind Roger Federer and also won the second-most matches behind the retired Swiss Maestro. The record of matches won is now something that Djokovic will likely not break, given he trails Federer by nine, and it's possible to win a maximum of five matches at the event.
One record that the 24-time Grand Slam champion might also not match is the number of participations, as Federer has 17, while Djokovic has 16, and he won't add another one this year.
The seven-time champion, who is also a two-time defending champion, has not officially qualified for the 2024 ATP Finals, even though he might have thought that he did.
Currently, he has 3,910 points in the 2024 ATP Race and sits in sixth place. However, there are three players behind him that can still overtake him in the Race, even though now they won't need to.
In an unlikely scenario that Andrey Rublev would win the title at the Moselle Open in Metz, Casper Ruud would reach at least the semi-finals at the same event, and Alex de Minaur would win the title at the Belgrade Open, Djokovic would finish the 2024 ATP Race ninth.
However, regardless of his ranking, Djokovic won't compete at the 2024 ATP Finals. After appearing at the Belgrade Open recently, the Serbian player posted a statement on social media announcing his withdrawal from the tournament.
The 37-year-old stated that he was honored to qualify for the ATP Finals, which was not the case yet but likely would have been, but because of an ongoing injury, he couldn't compete.
"It's quite an honor to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin. I was really looking forward to being there, but due to an ongoing injury, I won't be playing next week."
At the moment, it's not clear if Djokovic is really battling an injury or if he just didn't want to decline the chance of playing at such a prestigious event, considering he recently played at the Six Kings Slam and pushed Jannik Sinner to the limit.
In the same match, however, the Serbian player also received multiple treatments for his right shoulder, so it's possible it's an injury that is bothering him at the moment.
He also apologized to all of the fans that wanted to see him in Turin, while also wishing all of his rivals a great tournament.
"Apologies to those who were planning to see me. Wishing all the players a great tournament. See you soon!"
Ruud, De Minaur, and Rublev will certainly be happy about this development, as it means that they don't have to fight for the two remaining spots. Instead, they will all qualify for the tournament.
Djokovic, on the other hand, will now focus on the upcoming Grand Slam tournament, which is the 2024 Australian Open. Given his withdrawal from the ATP Finals, it's very likely that Djokovic will not be among the top eight seeded players, meaning that he could meet the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz already in the quarter-finals.
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