TURIN, Italy (Reuters) -Seven-times ATP Finals champion Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the season-ending tournament due to a shoulder injury, hours after winning his 101st title at the Hellenic Championship.
Finalist Lorenzo Musetti will take his place in Turin, where the ATP Finals begin on Sunday, after Djokovic took almost three hours to beat the Italian 4-6 6-3 7-5.
"I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best," Djokovic posted on social media.
"But after today's final in Athens, I'm sad to share that I need to withdraw due to an ongoing injury."
Djokovic also missed last year's season-ender with injury, having won his seventh title in 2023.
The 38-year-old said he had been dealing with the injury throughout the tournament in Athens.
"That's the reason why I decided not to make a call would I go to Turin or not earlier because I wanted to see how the matches go, how I react," he told reporters.
"After yesterday's match, I was hoping that it was not going to flare up. But then today, even before the match, it was not great. I had to take all the strong medications to be able to play the match.
"I felt there's no chance for me to go through the entire tournament in Turin with the required level of tennis when you're playing the best eight in the world."
Musetti, who needed to beat Djokovic to overtake Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to qualify for the tournament, will replace Djokovic in the Jimmy Connors Group, with Alexander Bublik now the first alternate.
This marks the first time that two Italian singles players have qualified for the same edition of the ATP Finals, and is Musetti's first appearance.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, additional reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Pritha Sarkar and William Mallard)
