Djokovic's Turin Race: Fonseca, Auger-Aliassime Skip Basel

Joao Fonseca recorded a video and posted it on Instagram. The Brazilian said, as reported by the ATP: “I realised I’m still not 100% ready to compete at the level I’d like.” The message is plain: he is not yet ready to play at the level he wants, so on October 17 he pulled out of Basel and Paris and ended his season. On the day the Masters final is played in Shanghai, Basel has lost another name, and Novak Djokovic, who is playing there for the first time since 2011, is studying the standings and counting points for the ATP Finals in Turin.

What happened with Basel?

Fonseca won Basel last year, and he is now the world No. 29 with a 20-13 record in 2026. The ATP 500 event, which awards the champion 500 points, runs from October 26 to November 1, and the Paris Masters follows from November 2 to 8.

Felix Auger-Aliassime hurt his knee during the Masters in Shanghai and retired from his round-of-16 match against Casper Ruud. According to B92, the Canadian will miss at least the next two weeks of competition, and B92 also reports that he has withdrawn from Basel. The sources disagree here: on October 17 the ATP still listed Auger-Aliassime among the Basel entrants, alongside Djokovic, Shelton and Fritz, while B92 wrote that evening that he had withdrawn.

Paris is a separate question. Whether Auger-Aliassime plays there depends on how the knee responds to rest. He has a lot of points to defend, because he reached the final in 2025.

Why is Djokovic watching the Shanghai final?

The ATP Finals are played in Turin from November 15 to 22. Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton are safe, Flavio Cobolli is almost certain according to B92, and Daniil Medvedev is also expected. Jannik Sinner’s spot is vacant because the Italian cannot play through injury. Arthur Fils, Rafael Jodar, Alex de Minaur and Djokovic are fighting for the remaining places.

From Monday Djokovic will be No. 11 in the rankings, B92 writes. On the live ATP list Jodar has already moved past him, which RTS describes as an added complication for Turin. Auger-Aliassime drops out of those calculations: B92 judges that after his withdrawal the Canadian has practically no realistic chance of reaching Turin, which, as B92 puts it, makes Djokovic’s path “to some extent” easier.

The Shanghai final starts on October 18 at 10:30 our time. Jodar and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are meeting for the first time, and both are chasing a first Masters title. Jodar, who is 20 and ranked 13th in the world, beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinal. Davidovich Fokina beat Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 and is playing his second Masters final after Monte Carlo in 2022. RTS notes that this is the ninth all-Spanish Masters final since 1990 and the first on a hard court, since the previous eight were played on clay.

The gap depends on the result, by B92’s count:

• if Jodar wins Shanghai, he will be 669 points ahead of Djokovic and out of reach, while Fils will have 485 points more than the Serb
• if Davidovich Fokina wins, the gap will be 319 points

What can Basel and Paris give Djokovic?

As our readers know, Djokovic is playing Basel for the first time since 2011, as the fourth seed, which we have already covered. A win there is worth 500 points, but B92 warns that it would not be enough on its own, because his rivals are collecting points too.

The best route to Turin, B92 writes, runs through both tournaments: a final in Basel, then a semifinal or final in Paris. Winning Paris would “almost certainly” push him into Turin, but even then he would depend on the results of Jodar, Fils and De Minaur. As things stand, Paris is the last big chance to close in on the ATP Finals.

Djokovic’s first date is October 26 and the start of the Basel tournament, and before that the answer from Shanghai arrives on Sunday morning.