Novak Djokovic won’t play Paris Masters, leaving doubt over season

PARIS – Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the Paris Masters, where he is a seven-time champion, in a move which could potentially signal the end of his roller-coaster season.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be playing the Paris Masters this year,” the 37-year-old wrote on Instagram on Oct 23.

“I have a lot of great memories, winning seven titles and I hope to be back with you next year. Sorry to everyone who was hoping to see me there.”

Djokovic, who is the defending champion in Paris, has won a record 40 Masters titles in his career along with his 24 Grand Slam titles.

But his 2024 season has yielded just one title – his emotional Olympic gold medal in Paris in August and he is currently marooned on 99 career trophies.

This season, the Serb has been deposed as Grand Slam king by young stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Italy’s Sinner, 23, claimed the Australian and US Open titles and also snatched Djokovic’s world No. 1 ranking.

Alcaraz swept him off court in the Wimbledon final after succeeding him as French Open champion, although Djokovic did gain a measure of revenge with victory over the 21-year-old Spaniard in the Olympic final.

For the first time since 2017, Djokovic will end the season without a Grand Slam title.

He is still in contention to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin in November.

He is sixth in the race for the eight-man field for the showpiece, but could be overtaken by a number of players.

This season’s Paris Masters is from Oct 28 to Nov 3.

Djokovic has recently seen his long-time rival Rafael Nadal announce his intention to retire from tennis after the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November.

However, the Serb insists that he has no intention of following the 38-year-old Spaniard to the exit door despite his own admission of “one of the worst-performing seasons in terms of results”.

“I don’t know what the future brings, I’ll just try to kind of go with the flow to see how I feel in a given moment,” said Djokovic after losing to Sinner in the recent Shanghai Masters final.

“But I still plan to compete and play next season.”

That loss was his third in his last four clashes against the Italian – a sign that a new era has begun in men’s tennis.

Djokovic also said he is not driven by joining Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer as the only men to win at least 100 titles.

“It’s not a live-or-die type of goal for me, I think I’ve achieved all of my biggest goals in my career,” he said.

“Right now it’s really about Slams and about still seeing how far I can kind of push the bar for myself.” AFP