Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the season-ending ATP Finals due to injury, confirming his decision in a post on his Instagram on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old, a seven-time winner and the defending champion, posted: “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!”
Djokovic claimed the first of his seven ATP Finals wins back in 2008, and was victorious last year when beating world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the final.
Djokovic saw off Sinner 6-3 6-3, having previously lost to the Italian in the round-robin section of the competition.
The ATP Finals take place between November 10 and 17, live on Sky Sports, with the top eight men’s players in the world facing off in Turin, Italy.
Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz have booked their spots. The three remaining places are set to be filled by Casper Ruud, Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev, with Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas likely named as alternates.
British No 1 Jack Draper started the Paris Masters 14th in the rankings and with an outside chance of qualifying for Turin, only for a third-round exit to De Minaur to end that possibility.
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Highlights of the Paris Masters third-round match between Alex de Minaur and British No 1 Jack Draper
Djokovic also withdrew from Paris, with the tournament ultimately won by world No 2 Zverev on Sunday.
The Serb’s absence in Turin means the record 24-time Grand Slam champion finishes the year with the Olympic gold in Paris being his only title in 2024.
What is the format of the ATP Finals?
The ATP Finals has a round-robin format, with eight players divided into two groups of four. The eight seeds are determined by the ATP Race To Turin rankings on the Monday after the last ATP Tour tournament of the calendar year.
All singles matches are then the best of three tie-break sets, including the final.
The top-seeded players are placed in Group A and the second-seeded into Group B. Players seeded 3, 4 and 5 and 6, 7 and 8, are then drawn in pairs with the first drawn placed in Group A. Each player plays the three other players in his group.
The winner of each group (best overall record) is placed in a separate semi-final bracket, with the top player in Group A playing the runner-up in Group B, and vice versa.
If two or more players are tied after the round-robin matches, the ties are broken by the tie-break procedure, with the final standings of each group determined by the first of the following methods that apply: a) Greatest number of wins; b) Greatest number of matches played; c) Head-to-head results if only two players are tied; d) If three players are tied, a player having played less than all three matches is automatically eliminated; or highest percent.
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