Alex de Minaur’s last nail-biting push to qualify for the ATP Finals has taken him to Belgrade - but the great unknown in his quest remains whether that city’s most famous son Novak Djokovic wants to play in Turin’s season-ending showpiece.
Going into the final qualifying week of the year-long ‘Race to Turin’, de Minaur is tantalisingly close, lying provisionally as the eighth and last man in field for the following week’s championships in Italy.
In theory, there are still four players fighting for the three spots remaining - de Minaur, ninth-placed Andrey Rublev, seventh-placed Casper Ruud and sixth-placed Djokovic.
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Yet while the other three will be in action this week - de Minaur in Serbia’s Belgrade Open and Rublev and Ruud both in the Moselle Open in Metz, France - all battling for crucial points, Djokovic is having another week off.
It is feasible that all three could glean enough points this week to go past the great man and knock him out of contention.
Yet the bigger question is whether, even if he does qualify, the 37-year-old, who’s been posting social media pictures of himself on holiday with his family in the Maldives and bypassed the Paris Masters, will actually bother to shoot for a record-extending eighth Finals crown at all in Turin.
It appeared that the beach holiday, at least, was over as Djokovic turned up to watch the prelims at the Belgrade Open on Sunday.
“Torino is not my goal at all, to be honest, I am not chasing ATP Finals, I am not chasing the rankings,” the 37-year-old said after playing for Serbia in the Davis Cup in September, making it abundantly clear he's far more interested in getting himself sharp for the Australian Open and a possible record-breaking 25th grand slam.
“As far as I am concerned, I am done with those tournaments for my career. Whether I will play in other tournaments this year or in the future, I can’t say right now."
Well, it may not mean much to him any more - but it means an awful lot to a player like de Minaur, who would be the first Australian since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago to play in the end-of-year championship.
The Belgrade Open will be his 20th tournament of 2024 in an 11th different country amid a stressful, injury-hit slog of a year - and, in truth while still not quite at 100 percent fitness after slogging through three successive tournaments, the tournament's top seed probably needs this week’s slog like a hole in the head.
Along with Ruud and Rublev, he knows that they would all three be guaranteed a Finals place if Djokovic announced he was pulling out of Turin.
Instead, they just have to get on with one last battle - 1500km apart.
For while de Minaur is set to open up with an awkward one in Belgrade against either Serbian Laszlo Djere or veteran Swiss ace Stan Wawrinka later this week, Rublev and Ruud will be in action in Metz and are drawn to end up meeting in the final.
THE RACE TO MAKE THE ATP FINALS
(* indicates already qualified)
1st* - Jannik Sinner (Italy) 10,330pts
2nd* - Alexander Zverev (Germany) 7315
3rd* - Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) 6810
4th* - Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 4830
5th* - Taylor Fritz (USA) 4300
6th - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - 3910
7th - Casper Ruud (Norway) - 3855
8th - Alex de Minaur (Australia) - 3745
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9th Andrey Rublev (Russia) - 3720
