Therefore, the 24-time Grand Slam champion will not defend his title and will watch from the sidelines as the eight players in Turin battle it out for the season-ending championship crown.

With Djokovic absent, in addition to the retired Roger Federer and soon to be retired Rafael Nadal, the 2024 ATP Finals will be the first edition of the event without at least one member of the ‘Big 3’ since 2001.

What does Alexander Zverev find strange about the ATP Finals without Novak Djokovic?

For the first time since 2017, Novak Djokovic will not be part of the ATP Finals. This was the only other year that Alexander Zverev played in the season-ending championship and the Serbian did not feature.

That season the German made his debut at the event, and won it for the first time a year later, beating Djokovic in the 2018 final.

Djokovic and his fellow legends Nadal and Federer have been the benchmark in the men’s game for so long and not having at least one of those players at the ATP Finals feels strange to Zverev.

“I think it is strange to not see Novak here,” Zverev told reporters in the pre-tournament press conference.

“Just because of all the success he had and for me he is still one of the best players in the world. He qualified for this event, right? He just chose not to play it.

“But the first few times that I played Roger, Rafa and Novak were always the highlight of the tournament. They were always the people everybody expected to win and expected to go far.

“Even the first time I won in 2018 you had to beat two of the three players – I beat Federer in the semis and Djokovic in the final. It does feel different.”

Alexander Zverev compares Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Though things feel different for Zverev at the ATP Finals without the ‘Big 3’, their dominance now seems to have been taken up by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

The duo shared 2024’s Grand Slam titles between them and have 11 total championships between them this season.

Zverev spoke about having to go through at least one of the ‘Big 3’ to win a title, and expressed that is now the case with Sinner and Alcaraz.

“I feel like now with Jannik and Carlos it has moved the same way but with new guys, you have to go through them to win tournaments,” he said.

“They both won two Grand Slams this year, the two best players in the world for sure, and you have to beat them to win the tournament. I think it will be the same here as well.”

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