Novak Djokovic missed a big chance to strengthen his push for a place at the end-of-year ATP Finals after a loss to Jan-Lennard Struff at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, leaving the Serb with precious few opportunities to make up ground in the race to Turin.
Back in Basel for the first time in 15 years, the 39-year-old Djokovic fell 6-7(4) 7-5 7-6(5) in the second round on Thursday, his first defeat by German veteran Struff in nine meetings.
"I knew I needed to go for it. There was only one way to play it. So I was very happy," said Struff, who clinched the win with his 27th ace of the match.
"The last serve went into the corner like many balls today. I knew I had to play my best tennis to have a chance. The last eight times, he beat me very easily. So I'm very pleased with the performance."
The result left Djokovic 11th in the qualification race for the eight-player season finale, 319 points behind ninth-placed Rafael Jodar, who currently occupies the final qualifying spot with the injured Jannik Sinner not playing in Turin.
Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton all have places in the ATP Finals starting on November 15, leaving Djokovic battling for one of the remaining spots with next week's Paris Masters offering him another opportunity to pick up points.
PARIS PUSH
Djokovic will head to the November 2-8 Paris Masters as a record seven-times champion, but has not said whether he would consider entering the ATP 250 event in Stockholm afterwards if he still needs points to secure a finals' place.
He missed the previous two editions of the ATP Finals due to injury but had indicated that he intended to return to the event he has won a record seven times if he qualifies.
The 24-times Grand Slam champion has endured another tough season physically, though his run to the Australian Open final, a Wimbledon semi-final and his Beijing triumph have provided notable highs.
Few will write off Djokovic's chances of reaching Turin even at this stage, given the resilience that he has shown throughout his glittering career.
"I won the title in Beijing a few weeks ago, which was definitely my best week this year apart from the Grand Slam final in Australia," Djokovic told reporters before the tournament in Basel.
"It's been a year with a lot of struggles, particularly physically, but I'm still here and as competitive as anybody. If somebody beats me, well done, good job, but I'm definitely going to fight and not give these youngsters too easy a stroll on court. They have to earn their victories.
"That's also what motivates me: seeing how I can match up with players 15-plus years younger than me. It's been quite an interesting process to experience."
