Novak Djokovic officially ended his season by pulling out of the ATP Finals despite being sixth in the race to qualify.
Only the eight players who have earned the most ranking points in a single season can play the event in Turin. And Djokovic’s withdrawal meant the last spots were officially confirmed.
ATP bosses can breathe a sigh of relief, as they were reportedly planning to delay the draw and pre-tournament ceremonies until all eight players had guaranteed their places in the tournament.
Djokovic recently skipped the Paris Masters, which jeopardised his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals.
But no other player was able to overtake him in the race as they failed to go deep and earn enough ranking points, meaning he earned a spot in the year-end championships.
Coming into this week’s ATP 250 events in Metz and Belgrade, there were two more spots up for grabs between three players – Casper Ruud, Alex De Minaur and Andrey Rublev.
De Minaur entered Belgrade while Ruud and Rublev headed to Metz to try and bank enough points to make it to Turin.
With the finals of both tournaments taking place on Saturday, the completed ATP Finals line-up may not have been known until then. But Djokovic did everyone a favour on Tuesday when he announced that he would not defend his title in Turin next week.
“It’s quite an honour to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin,” he wrote. “I was really looking forward to being there, but due to ongoing injury I won’t be playing next week.
“Apologies to those who were planning to see me. Wishing all the players a great tournament. See you soon!”
Because there were only three other players in contention and Djokovic’s withdrawal left three spots available, Ruud, De Minaur and Rublev all qualified and the line-up was complete.
It came at the perfect time. The official draw ceremony and pre-tournament photoshoot are set to take place on Thursday.
But, according to Marca, the ATP planned to delay the draw if all eight players hadn’t been confirmed. With the ATP Finals starting on Sunday, they would have been cutting it fine to determine the groups and schedule the matches and a last-minute delay wouldn’t have been a good look.
Following the news of Djokovic’s withdrawal, De Minaur pulled out of Belgrade knowing his spot in the season-ending tournament was secure. Rublev remained in Metz and won his opening match but withdrew after picking up an injury.
There was speculation that Ruud would also skip Metz after securing his place but he flew into France on Wednesday morning ahead of his first match.
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz have already arrived in Turin and started practising at the Inalpi Arena ahead of the ATP Finals.
