Novak Djokovic year-end World No. 1 scenario: How has Paris Masters win boosted the Serb's chances of finishing ahead of Carlos Alcaraz?
Novak Djokovic reigned supreme at the 2023 Paris Masters, downing Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in Sunday's final to win a record-extending seventh title at the tournament.
Ther Serb now has 40 Masters 1000 titles to his name, the most in ATP history and four more than No. 2 Rafael Nadal's tally of 36. With the season reaching its very end now, Djokovic also has an excellent shot at finishing the year as the World No. 1.
With him and World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz scheduled to play at the ATP Finals in Turin next, the only way Alcaraz can overtake the 37-year-old now is if the latter fails to win a single match at the year-end championships. In other words, a solitary win in the group stage of the ATP Finals will be enough for Djokovic to secure the year-end World No. 1 spot.
Currently with 11,445 points to his name (including Paris), the Serb will be defending 1,500 points at the ATP Finals. Alcaraz, who did not participate last year, will have 8,455 points heading into Turin. The Spaniard can go up to a maximum of 9,955 points by winning the title there, which will give him 10 points more than Djokovic.
However, a single win at the year-end competition is worth 200 points - enough for the 24-time Grand Slam champion to secure the World No. 1 position.
Carlos Alcaraz himself stated he has no chance of taking over the World No. 1 spot from Novak Djokovic before end of 2023 season
Carlos Alcaraz came into the 2023 Paris Masters with a great shot at challenging Novak Djokovic for the World No. 1 spot before the end of the season. However, a Round of 32 exit at the hands of Roman Safiullin put an end to the Spaniard's dream.
Speaking to the press later, the World No. 2 lamented the missed opportunity, admitting that he no longer believes that he has any chance of replacing the Serb at the top of the ATP rankings.
"After this defeat I have no chance, all the ones I had to finish No. 1 at the end of the year are gone. We're not going to think that, I think there are zero chance. Losing in the early rounds of tournaments that you hope to make it to the final rounds or that you push yourself hurts," he said.
"Today is one of the few times I don't want to think about the next few days, about training. But it has to be done, there's one tournament left. But these defeats hurt a lot," he added.