Cameron Norrie: British No. 1 calls Novak Djokovic Nitto ATP Finals qualification ‘a bit strange’

Cameron Norrie has described Novak Djokovic’s qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals as “a bit strange”.

Djokovic has been guaranteed a place at the ATP Finals in Turin later this month because he won this year’s Wimbledon tournament, in July.

However, all the points that would normally have been earned by other players at the tournament, such as beaten finalist Nick Kyrgios, have not been awarded as a result of the decision that saw Russian players banned from the event as a result of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Norrie himself lost out on 720 ranking points that he normally would have got for reaching the semi-finals, and that contributed to his failure to reach the ATP finals in Italy.

The same lack of points could also hurt Britain’s attempt to make the United Cup event that is set to take place in Australia in January 2023.

Djokovic is in action at this week’s Paris Masters, and were he to win the tournament he would have secured sufficient points to progress to Turin regardless of his Wimbledon qualification.

“Novak obviously qualified from Wimbledon so that seems a bit strange,” said Norrie on Monday after his Paris Masters’ 6-2, 6-4 first-round win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic.

“I don’t know if that was the rule before or not, but it seems unfair, I guess for Nick Kyrgios as well.

“He lost in the final and he gets nothing. I knew that I hadn’t had the points all along, but I was still in with a pretty decent chance I thought.”

“Players’ endorsement contracts are affected by their year-end ranking and whether or not they qualify for the Finals. Many, such as Nick, will be out of pocket, whereas Novak has been made whole.’

An ATP spokesman commented: “The removal of ranking points at this year’s Wimbledon was done on the basis of fairness to all players, and no further rule changes linked to the competition’s status were deemed necessary.

“As such, any player competing at Wimbledon or the other Grand Slams this year had the opportunity to qualify for Turin via the Grand Slam qualification rule.”