Novak Djokovic may not be competing at this year’s ATP Finals, but the 24-time Grand Slam winner continues to come out on top in other ways. Even without taking the court in Turin, the results of the tournament have worked in his favor, giving the Serb a boost as he looks ahead to the 2026 season — particularly with the Australian Open on the horizon.

Djokovic wrapped up his season at the Hellenic Championship in Athens, where he claimed the title — the 101st ATP trophy of his career. Soon after, he pulled out of the ATP Finals due to injury. At that point, sitting at World No. 4, the Serb faced the possibility of slipping in the rankings if the players behind him advanced to the final in Turin….

Fortunately for Djokovic, that scenario never materialized. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz marched into the final in Turin, guaranteeing that Djokovic will remain at No. 4 in the year-end rankings. This puts him in a strong position to be seeded fourth at the Australian Open, giving him his own quarter of the draw at the season’s first Major.

This is significant because it would keep him away from Sinner and Alcaraz until the semifinals at the earliest. The pair have posed the biggest challenge to Djokovic’s Grand Slam ambitions lately, standing in the way of his pursuit of a record 25th Major and the chance to retire as the sole holder of the all-time Slam record. At the moment, he remains tied with Margaret Court — even though several of the Australian’s titles were won before the Open Era.

Across the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Sinner and Alcaraz have completely dominated the Grand Slam landscape, capturing all eight Majors between them — four each, with both players winning two per year. Djokovic, on the other hand, fell short at every Slam in 2025, bowing out in the semifinals and being stopped by either Alcaraz or Sinner in three of those events.

What happened to the players ranked below Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals?

Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz entered the ATP Finals as the World No. 5 and No. 6 players, respectively, but both were eliminated in the round-robin stage. Shelton dropped all three of his group matches, while Fritz managed to secure just a single victory.

Meanwhile, World No. 7 Alex de Minaur and World No. 8 Felix Auger-Aliassime proved to be Djokovic’s closest challengers. Auger-Aliassime picked up two wins in the group stage, pushing his total to 4,245 points. A semifinal appearance would have seen him overtake Djokovic for the No. 4 ranking, but he was stopped by Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. De Minaur, for his part, won one group match before bowing out to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.

World No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti entered the ATP Finals as the first alternate after Djokovic withdrew, and he concluded his campaign in the group stage, managing to record one victory along the way.