Novak Djokovic has insisted that qualifying for the ATP Finals is not a big priority for him in the final weeks of 2024, but the Serbian great may be closer to sealing his place in the end-of-season showpiece in November that he initially expected.

Djokovic looked set to face a tough battle to get into the top eight qualifying positions after his shock early exit against Alexei Popyrin at the US Open.

He is currently in 9th position in the ATP Race and would need to claim plenty of points in the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Shanghai and Paris, which are set to be his final two regular tour events for 2024.

With most of his ATP Race rivals playing in warm-up events ahead of the Shanghai tournament, they all had chances to put some distance between themselves and Djokovic in the battle to secure a place in Turin.

Yet first round defeats for Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud in Tokyo ensured Djokovic is still in touching distance of the players currently sitting in fifth and sixth place in the ATP Race.

Now it has been confirmed that eighth-placed Alex de Minaur will not be playing in Shanghai, as he battles an ongoing injury issue he sustained at Wimbledon in July.

De Minaur has also been left out of the Australian team for the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November, which suggests he could be close to calling time on his season.

If De Minaur is not fit to play in Turin, Djokovic would be a firm favourite to get enough ranking points in Shanghai and Paris to fend off the players currently behind him in the ATP Race.

Grigor Dimitrov is one place behind Djokovic, but he picked up an injury playing in the Laver Cup and must be a doubt to reach the ATP Finals.

This period of the tennis year often throws up a player who finds a rich vein of form in the push for the ATP Finals, with Britain’s Jack Draper a player to watch as he has shown he is growing after his run to the US Open semi-finals after a fine start in Tokyo.

Djokovic won last year’s ATP Finals and the challenge of defending his title on a surface he has been dominant on in recent years should inspire him to finish the year on a high.

Following his early exit from the US Open, played for Serbia at the Davis Cup and after the event came the first admission that his “main priorities are playing for the national team and Slams, everything else is less important”.

He suggested that he was “done” with the ATP Finals and just about most other tournaments, stating: “As far as I am concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career. Whether I will play other tournaments this year or in the future, I can’t say right now.

“For the first time in my career, I don’t have any long-term plans. I live in the moment and I’ll see what happens.

“I’m going to play in China, and then in an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia. After that, I don’t know. We’ll see how I feel and we’ll judge.”

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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)