Novak Djokovic dealt humiliating blow as US Open exit could see nightmare come to life | Tennis | Sport

Novak Djokovic‘s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals have taken a hammer blow following his early exit from the US Open. The 37-year-old was beaten by Alexei Popyrin in round three, meaning he will finish the year without winning any of the four Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic would have backed himself to seal a place at the ATP Finals with a deep run at the US Open. However, he now faces a battle to play in the prestigious end-of-season event with other results at Flushing Meadows going against him.

Taylor Fritz’s victory over Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals bumped Djokovic down to ninth in this year’s ATP Race, which calculates the ranking points from the calendar year. It means he will not be involved at the ATP Finals unless he can pick up more ranking points.

The top eight players in the ATP Race rankings will qualify for the ATP Finals, which will take place in November. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Zverev are certain to qualify with Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev also ahead of Djokovic.

His reluctance to play in lower-level tournaments could end his hopes of defending the ATP Finals title he won last year. Djokovic is on the entry list for next month’s Shanghai Masters but it remains to be seen if he will decide to play in that part of the season for the first time since 2019.

The Serb is also set to compete at the Paris Masters, where 1,000 ranking points will be up for grabs. However, it seems he may need to win that tournament to book his place at the ATP Finals unless he decides to enter additional events.

Djokovic has openly admitted that he struggles to find the motivation to play in tournaments other than Grand Slams, saying at the French Open: “It’s true that I’m focused pretty much solely on Grand Slams and Olympics this year and playing for my country, really.

“That’s something that really drives me the most today. The other tournaments, it’s not maybe sounding right, but these are huge tournaments, very important tournaments, tournaments that are part of the ATP Tour that I was part of and still am part of for so many years, and have been integral to my career and my success.

“But yeah, it is becoming a little bit more challenging for me to push myself every single tournament to be really at the top.”