Novak Djokovic is widely expected to confirm he will not play in next week’s ATP Finals after he returned to Belgrade before announcing whether he will play in Turin.
Djokovic has made it clear that he is not focused on defending the ATP Finals trophy he won in impressive fashion a year ago, as he is focused on preparing for 2025 and what may be a final attempt to win an 11th Australian Open title in January.
Even though Djokovic has had the worst year of results since his formative days on the tour, his run to the Wimbledon final and Australian Open semi-finals has bolstered a yearly ranking points total to ensure he is currently in sixth place in the ATP Race list.
The top eight players qualify for Turin, but with Djokovic spending his last few days on a beach in the Maldives, there is an expectation that he will not play again in 2024.
He is now back in Serbia and has not been seen on a practice court so there is a growing expectation that his 2024 season is over.
If he does withdraw from Turin, ninth place on the ATP Race list would ensure qualification for Turin and there could be some twists and turns in this story before it concludes.
Caper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alex De Minaur are battling it out for the final place in the ATP Finals and rumours in Serbia suggest Djokovic has made the decision to withdraw from the lucrative end-of-season tournament.
At the age of 37, he has made it clear that spending time with his family and being selective with the tournaments he plays will be his play from this point forward and after nursing a shoulder injury in his most recent matches at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia last month, former British No 1 Greg Rusedski is predicting Djokovic will not play at the ATP Finals.
“I think he needs to get healthy,” Rusedski told The Tennis Channel as he spoke about Djokovic. “We still see that knee brace there and once we don’t see that any more, he’s back.
“Last season he won the ATP Finals and played in Davis Cup, so he couldn’t get the prep he needed in for this season. Then he picked up that injury at the French Open.
“For me, if Novak is 100 per-cent healthy, he is in the mix to win every major again next year. Health is your wealth and the older you get, the smarter you need to get.
“Off season to me is huge and the longer he can make his off season the better off he will be for 2025. I will be surprised if he plays in Turin or plays any more tennis this season, but never discount him.
“For me, if Novak is 100% healthy and gets fit, he is in the mix to win every major again.”
Former world No 1 Andy Roddick has also given his verdict on whether Djokovic will play in Turin and he also expects him to sit out the tournament.
“He said three weeks ago he doesn’t think he is going to play year-end finals again, so my opinion naturally is that I don’t think he is ever going to play year-end finals again,” said Roddick on the Tennis Channel live podcast.
“You don’t often go from Maldives to year-end finals, that would be a new point of origin in the finals playing process.
“But listen, Novak is at the point of his career where he gets to play when he is motivated, he is not going to be interested in making a semi of any event. He wants to win slams, that’s it.
“I also was the dummy who thought three weeks wasn’t enough time for him to play in Wimbledon and what does he do? Go and play the final.
“So nothing would surprise me, but I bet you lunch that he won’t turn up in Turin.”
Djokovic will slip further down the ATP Rankings if he does pull out of the ATP Finals and he could be as low as nine in the rankings by the end of 2024.
Yet those statistics are no longer motivating Djokovic and he will be keen to get fully fit and hit the ground running when he gets to Melbourne in January.
Djokovic needs to announce his ATP Finals decision soon as the players involved and tournament organisers are waiting on his decision, so expect some news in the next 48 hours.
