Novak Djokovic missed a big chance to strengthen his push for a place at the end-of-year ATP Finals after a loss to Jan-Lennard Struff at the Swiss Indoors in Basel on Thursday night.
Defeat has left the Serb with precious few opportunities to make up ground in the race to Turin.
Back in Basel for the first time in 15 years, 39-year-old Djokovic fell 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 7-6 (5-7) in the second round, his first defeat by German veteran Struff in nine meetings.
The result left Djokovic 11th in the qualification race for the eight-player season finale, 319 points behind ninth-placed Rafael Jodar, who currently occupies the final qualifying spot with Jannik Sinner not playing in Turin due to injury.
A total of five main-draw spots now remain, with as many as 10 players still in contention.
Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton all have places in the ATP Finals starting on November 15, leaving Djokovic battling for one of the remaining spots with next week’s Paris Masters offering him another opportunity to pick up points.
It seems likely that Daniil Medvedev and Arthur Fils will claim two of the five remaining spots. This would leave three places available for a group of eight players: Djokovic, Jodar, Flavio Cobolli, Frances Tiafoe, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Jakub Mensik.
However, Cobolli suffered an injury during his match against Matteo Berrettini in Vienna, leaving him visibly emotional and in tears on court, leaving a big question mark about whether he will be able to compete for the remainder of the season.
There are five players currently separated by fewer than 500 points, with Djokovic firmly in the middle of that group.
He will head to the French capital as a record seven-time champion but would likely need at least a semi-final appearance alongside early exits for some of the players around him in the rankings to put himself in a position to qualify.
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Djokovic may even consider entering the ATP 250 event in Stockholm afterwards if he still needs points to secure a spot in Turin.
He missed the previous two editions of the ATP Finals due to injury but had indicated that he intended to return to the event aiming to claim a record-extending eighth title.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion has endured another tough season physically, though his run to the Australian Open final, a Wimbledon semi-final and his Beijing triumph have provided notable highs.
Few will write off Djokovic’s chances of reaching Turin even at this stage, given the resilience that he has shown throughout his glittering career.
“I won the title in Beijing a few weeks ago, which was definitely my best week this year apart from the Grand Slam final in Australia,” Djokovic said in Basel.
“It’s been a year with a lot of struggles, particularly physically, but I’m still here and as competitive as anybody. If somebody beats me, well done, good job, but I’m definitely going to fight and not give these youngsters too easy a stroll on court. They have to earn their victories.
“That’s also what motivates me: seeing how I can match up with players 15-plus years younger than me. It’s been quite an interesting process to experience.”
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