Grand Slam record winner Novak Djokovic will not defend his title at the ATP Finals in Turin (November 10th to 17th).
from SID
last edited: November 5th, 2024, 1:34 p.m
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The Serb announced this on Tuesday via Instagram. “It’s an honor to qualify for the finals. I was really looking forward to it, but due to an ongoing injury I won’t be playing,” Djokovic wrote.
This means that the season finale will take place without a player from the “Big Three” for the first time since 2001. Roger Federer ended his career in 2021, Rafael Nadal will retire after the Davis Cup final tournament at the end of November and is not qualified for Turin. Djokovic has won the ATP Finals seven times, Federer six times. Nadal is missing the title in his collection.
Djokovic had already canceled the Paris Masters the previous week and instead went on vacation to the Maldives with his family. At the end of the season he had already indicated that tournaments like the ATP Finals no longer had much meaning for him. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m done with these tournaments in my career,” he said about the meeting of the eight best of the year in Turin at the end of the season.
Rublev, de Minaur and Ruud at the finals
Djokovic wants to concentrate only on the Grand Slams and the Davis Cup in the late autumn of his career; with the Olympic victory in Paris he fulfilled his last big career dream in the summer.
Due to the cancellation of the 24-time major champion, it is clear that Casper Ruud (Norway), Alex de Minaur (Australia) and the Russian Andrey Rublev will receive the last three starting places for Turin. The tour dominator and world number one Jannik Sinner from Italy, the new world number two Alexander Zverev, Spain’s top star Carlos Alcaraz, the Russian Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz from the USA had previously qualified.
