Lorenzo Musetti to make career debut at ATP Finals in Turin after Novak Djokovic withdraws

World No. 9 Lorenzo Musetti will make his career debut at the ATP Finals this year after No. 5-ranked Novak Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the elite eight-player event due to a shoulder injury.

The two battled it out for almost three hours in the final of Athens on Saturday, and Musetti needed to win to qualify outright for the eighth and final spot in the ATP Finals field. Djokovic, who had already qualified for the event, ended up winning the match, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, temporarily putting Musetti in the first alternate position for Turin.

But shortly after the Athens final, Djokovic announced he was pulling out from Turin, meaning Musetti is now in the main field.

"I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best but after today's final in Athens, I'm sad to share that I need to withdraw due to an ongoing injury," Djokovic wrote on Instagram.

"I'm truly sorry to the fans who were hoping to see me play—your support means so much. I wish all the players an amazing tournament, and I can't wait to be back on the court with you all soon!"

And so, the field is now set, with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Musetti set to battle it out for year-end glory next week.

The Jimmy Connors round-robin group will include No. 1 seed Alcaraz, Fritz, De Minaur and Musetti (replacing Djokovic), while the Bjorn Borg group has No. 2 seed Sinner, Zverev, Shelton and Auger-Aliassime.

Alexander Bublik, who was originally going to be the second alternate, is now promoted to first alternate after Musetti got into the main field.

The new second alternate is yet to be announced.

And there's more good news for the home fans in Turin: this is the first time ever that two Italian players are in the ATP Finals field in the same year, with Sinner and Musetti both competing at the event.

Musetti has had the best year of his career this year, highlighted by a phenomenal clay-court season that saw him reach the first Masters 1000 final of his career in Monte Carlo (falling to Alcaraz), another two Masters 1000 semifinals at Madrid and Rome, and then the second Grand Slam semifinal of his career at Roland Garros (where he had to retire mid-match against Alcaraz due to a left leg injury).

He's also reached two more finals this year (Chengdu and Athens), one more semifinal (Vienna) and five more quarterfinals (including his first US Open quarterfinal, where he fell to Sinner).

The Italian made his Top 10 debut in May and went as high as No. 6 in June, and is currently No. 9. He'll have his first Top 10 finish this year.