A Deal With The Devil
What’s at stake in the next few days.
There’s an election happening today, but let’s not be so American about it – that is to say, self-obsessed and small-minded. Democracy is not the only thing at stake in these next few days. Novak Djokovic’s ATP Finals hopes hang in the balance as two small tennis tournaments play out in Belgrade (Serbia) and Metz (France).
The ATP Finals is a year-end point grab for the top eight players in the world, further solidifying their position in the top eight going into the following year. A higher ranking means higher seeding in tournaments, which means easier first rounds (or sometimes even first-round byes) and a higher likelihood of continued success. Just like in everything everywhere, those at the top tend to stay at the top.
Now we’re only one week away, and Djokovic is sitting 6th in the race for top eight. Novak forwent the last several events of the season, any of which would have guaranteed his spot in the Finals. As a result, the three players behind him now have the potential to edge him out of the top eight and into 9th… an alternate in case of injury. Yuck.
If Djokovic does end up at the ATP Finals, it will be a miracle, given the year that he’s had. After a middling season (phenomenal by all others’ standards, atrocious by his own), he went from an untouchable #1 in 2023 to #6 (no qualifier). From 3 major titles last year to zero ATP titles at any level this year. Novak came off a year full of shattered records and unfathomed benchmarks (he tied the all-time record for grand slam titles, won his 40th Masters 1000 title, and hit 400 weeks at the #1 ranking over his career). It was possibly the greatest year of his career, and then 2024 happened.
But at the same time, in 2024, Djokovic took home his first Olympic Gold. The Olympic Gold was the largest gaping hole in his tennis resume, and as a 37-year-old, his chance to win this once-every-four-year tournament was now or never.
My guess, and I’m seldom wrong about these things, is that Djokovic made a deal with the devil. Satan only bargains when the dark one has something the other person really wants. And then the price is set very, very high.
Thus, Satan asked Novak, “Will you forgo winning any and all tournaments this year in exchange for an Olympic Gold medal?” It was a spicy deal coming off such a winning season. Satan went on to tell the Serbian that he would fall out of the top five in the rankings, that people would start to press him about the end of his career, and that his momentum would halt. But Djokovic didn’t hesitate or bat an eye or bounce a tennis ball one extra time in contemplation. Djokovic agreed, signed on the dotted line, and resigned himself to a golden year of losses.
He asked the devil only one question.
“You said I would fall out of the top five. But how about the top eight? Can I still make the ATP Finals?”
“Ah, that…” Satan said, “That is in God’s hands.”
Though technically, it is in the hands of Andrei Rublev, Alex De Minaur, and Casper Ruud, who are playing in the final two ATP events of the year before the Finals. They are tournaments of the lowest caliber but worth enough to change the fates of up to four players: the aforementioned three and Novak Djokovic.
What needs to happen is this:
· Rublev needs to win in Metz
· De Minaur needs to win in Belgrade (where Djoker is in the stands watching his fellow countrymen play)
· Ruud needs to make it to the semi-finals in Serbia.
These are the top seeds in their respective events, and while these outcomes are likely, they are anything but guaranteed. If they fall shy of these three results, Djoker is heading to Turin to compete in the ATP Finals.
RIGHT NOW: Rublev is playing his first match of the tournament. As I write this conclusion, the Russian is on serve in the second set. Rublev saved four break points and won the first set in a tiebreak over Lorenzo Sonego.
Ruud and De Minaur will play tomorrow.
In a few days, we’ll know the outcome of the presidential election in the United States as well as the list of the top eight players for the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. There was also a New York City marathon two days ago, and I’m going to a nude-drawing class on Friday.
These are truly exciting times for all, and much is at stake.
So, after all this calculating, De Minaur and Rublev have both withdrawn from their tournaments this week... It seems nothing I spend my time thinking about matters at all. The things I decide to write down and share with you all; matter even less.
Not to hammer the futility of (my) life here, but because I only check Instagram once a week, I missed Djokovic's 6 am announcement that he won't be going to Turin for the ATP Finals this year regardless of his qualifying. He has bowed out due to injury.
I live my life in vain. I scream into a void that whispers back to me in my sleep and tells me to burn it all down. And now, finally, I... I'm ready to listen.