Madison Keys said it is “crazy” that Novak Djokovic is still in ATP Finals contention despite playing so few tournaments.

Djokovic has played just 27 matches this season, with the 39-year-old preparing for his 10th tournament of the campaign in Basel. While the Serbian has openly admitted to struggling with health and physical issues this season, Djokovic did reveal that he is making headway in getting that under control.

On his day, he can still beat the best players in the world, as evidenced by his Australian Open final run, where he beat Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, and his China Open triumph in September.

The veteran is 11th in the rankings and the Race, with his haul of 2,840 points lagging behind Rafael Jodar, who has 3,184 points and is currently in the last qualification spot.

Djokovic himself has set his sights on reaching Turin and former Australian Open champion Keys seemingly wouldn’t put it past him to achieve that goal, despite being an almost part-time player.

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She said on the Player’s Box podcast, “The fact that he plays four tournaments a year and he’s even this close to making year-end finals is crazy. He’s still so good, and he’s always in the mix. He’s always a contender for the title, and you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah. He hasn’t played in four weeks, but he could win’.”

Keys also cited how despite winning 24 Grand Slams and holding the record for weeks at No 1, Djokovic felt like he had a point to prove prior to winning gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Ergo, his drive to win are second to none.

The American added, “He’s also the same guy that before he won the gold medal in Paris, he was talking about how he felt like he was a failure and he hadn’t accomplished enough in his career and everything. Him trying to make another finals is not surprising.”

Realistically, Djokovic may need to win the ATP 500 event in Basel and have a deep run at the Paris Masters to make it to the year-end finals.

He opens his campaign at the Swiss Indoors against the tricky Ugo Humbert on Wednesday. Although the Frenchman is a strong indoor player, Djokovic is no slouch in this department, with a record of 202-50 on indoor courts.

He told the ATP, “I think throughout my career, I had quite a bit of success indoors. I always liked playing indoors, and I think particularly now at this stage of my career, with some physical health issues that I had in the last couple years, playing in extreme heat is not really my favourite thing anymore.

“So playing indoors is better for me because I’ll be able to have more energy, a sustained kind of feeling on the court, and I’ll hopefully be able to perform well.”

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