How will Novak Djokovic's ATP Finals withdrawal impact his ranking?
11/05/2024 09:56 AM
Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal from the ATP Finals brought his 2024 season to an early end — and he could be set for a drop in the rankings.
The legendary Serb was likely to qualify for the year-end championships, which will begin on Sunday, as he is sixth in the Race to Turin rankings.
However, Djokovic announced he will not feature at the ATP Tour’s premier tournament due to an unspecified “ongoing injury.”
"It's quite an honour to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin," Djokovic wrote on Instagram.
"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!"
The 37-year-old dropped from fourth to fifth in the ATP Rankings on Monday after he missed last week’s Paris Masters.
Djokovic won the Paris Masters in 2023, so his withdrawal from this year’s edition saw him lose the 1,000 points from his title run, taking his points total from 6,210 to 5,210.
Novak Djokovic News
Novak Djokovic's ex-coach delivers 'best in the world' verdict despite difficult 2024
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal told when they should have retired by Wimbledon winner
The 24-time Grand Slam champion also secured a record seventh ATP Finals crown last year — his seventh and final tournament win of an incredible 2024 season.
By winning four of his five matches en route to collecting the trophy in Turin 12 months ago, Djokovic earned 1,300 points.
Djokovic will, therefore, drop all of these points after this year’s event, which will take his points tally to 3,910.
Taylor Fritz is guaranteed to climb above Djokovic into the world No 5 position as he has 4,300 points and is not defending any points in Turin having not qualified for the 2023 ATP Finals.
While Djokovic will fall to at least sixth, he could finish the year as low as ninth in the world depending on the results of Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev.
Ruud is 55 points behind Djokovic in seventh, de Minaur is 165 adrift in eighth, while Rublev is 190 points below him in ninth.
None of this trio are defending any points from the 2023 ATP Finals as Ruud and de Minaur did not qualify, while Rublev lost all three of his round robin matches.
Therefore, if any of Ruud, de Minaur and Rublev win a single round robin match in Turin this year, they will overtake Djokovic in the rankings as 200 points are awarded for each ATP Finals group stage victory.
In addition, the trio have all entered ATP 250 tournaments this week: Ruud and Rublev in Metz; de Minaur in Belgrade. This could see them gain further points on Djokovic.
If Djokovic ends the season ranked between fifth and eighth, he will likely be seeded in this range for the 2025 Australian Open.
This would mean he could meet any of the top four seeds, including Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, in the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
If Djokovic drops to ninth, he could potentially face a tougher fourth round match against a player seeded between fifth and eighth at next year’s first major.
READ NEXT: The 5 men with the most indoor hard-court titles: Novak Djokovic with 19, Roger Federer No 1
The post How will Novak Djokovic’s ATP Finals withdrawal impact his ranking? appeared first on Tennis365.
