Novak Djokovic receives ATP Finals boost without playing as rivals suffers shock defeats

Richie Mills 24 Oct 2026 8:51 PM

Pictured: Novak Djokovic speaks at a press conference

Novak Djokovic has received a ATP Finals boost

Novak Djokovic’s Turin hopes received a boost after Arthur Fils’ shock loss to veteran Jan Lennard Struff in Brussels.

Fils was the top seed at the European Open, and after receiving a bye into the quarter-finals after Jaume Munar’s walkover, the Frenchman battled past Alex Michelsen in two tight sets in the last eight.

That set up an enticing semi-final clash with the big-hitting Struff, who was seeking the fifth ATP Tour final of his long career. The 36-year-old took the first set 6-4 but Fils battled back to claim the second on a tie-break on Saturday evening.

Although the Cincinnati Masters winner was the favourite to reach the final, where Tallon Griekspoor was waiting, the German held his nerve and claimed an impressive 6-4, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (5) victory in just under two hours and 20 minutes.

While Fils – who was broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider – is up to a career high of eight, the 22-year-old missed the chance to put more daylight between him and his rivals in the race for the ATP Finals.

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Following his win, world No 47 Struff said, “I want to thank the crowd for the support. It was an unreal match. I felt I played a very, very good first set, he won the second set which was very close. I managed to come back from a break down twice in the third set. I am just very happy to get the win.”

Despite this setback, Fils is still well placed to qualify for the season-ending event in Turin for the first time in his young career.

The Frenchman is seventh in the Race with 3,575 points, with Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar making up the last two qualification spots on 3,380 and 3,159 points respectively.

24-time major winner Novak Djokovic is currently 11th in the Race on 2,840 points – exactly 319 points behind Jodar, who occupies the last qualification position.

Realistically, the Serbian is more likely to haul in Tiafoe or Jodar, but Fils’ defeat, along with Flavio Cobolli losing in three sets in Lyon to fellow Italian and world No 26 Lorenzo Musetti, means they will be looking over their shoulders nervously heading into Basel and Vienna.

Musetti won his quarter-final match after 1am this morning and had just over 12 hours to recover before taking on the French Open champion. Despite falling from world No 5 to outside the top 20 in an injury-hit season, the 24-year-old saved four match points and claimed a battling 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory.

For Djokovic, he may need to win either Basel or the Paris Masters, or at least have deep runs at both tournaments, to qualify for the ATP Finals.

Plus, Alex De Minaur and Lyon finalist Taylor Fritz will hope to crash the party in Turin. Incidentally, Daniil Medvedev sits in sixth but will jump to fifth if he wins the title in Almaty on Sunday.

Alexander Zverev has already been confirmed as the year-end No 1 due to Jannik Sinner’s season-ending knee injury, while Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton have already qualified.

The qualification cut currently stands at 4,145 but that could change depending on how the remaining candidates do in the coming weeks.