Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from next week’s ATP Finals in Turin with an unspecified injury, making this the first year since 2001 when there will be no member of the “Big Three” at the event.

The announcement came after Djokovic was photographed enjoying a beach holiday in the Maldives, and was perhaps not the greatest of surprises, given that he had expressed a lack of interest in the Finals in September.

“Torino is not my goal at all, to be honest,” he said then. “I am not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings. As far as I am concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career.”

Djokovic might even have hoped that rivals such as Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur would perform better at last week’s Paris Masters, thus moving past his tally of 3,910 rankings points for the season and saving him the bother of having to withdraw.

As it happened, Ruud and Rublev lost in the first round of Paris, while De Minaur went out in the quarter-finals. Hence Djokovic’s message on Instagram: “It’s quite an honour to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin. I was really looking forward to playing there, but due to ongoing injury I won’t be playing next week.”

ANALYSIS

Olympics glory the highlight of Djokovic’s curious year

Djokovic finishes 2024 with an interesting record. He won no titles on the ATP Tour, from 10 events entered, but scored a hugely rewarding triumph at the Paris Olympics, where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in a final for the ages. Afterwards, he described that gripping 7-6, 7-6 victory as “the biggest achievement of my career.”