Novak Djokovic has delivered an honest and emotional reaction to his shocking second-round loss to World No. 47 Jan-Lennard Struff at the 2026 Swiss Indoors in Basel. Djokovic admitted that the result hurt him. In the grander scheme of things, the loss has made things quite complicated for the former World No. 1 Serb as far as his chances of qualifying for the year-end ATP Finals go.

On Thursday, October 29, Struff, the 36-year-old German, produced an impressive display to stun Djokovic 6-7(4-7), 7-5, 7-6(5) at the ATP 500 indoor hard-court event. The result brought an unexpected end to Djokovic’s campaign in Basel, where the 39-year-old had last played in 2011.

Subsequently, the 24-time Major champion spoke to the media, acknowledging his German opponent’s ‘incredible’ shot-making in the most decisive moments of the contest. Djokovic said:

“I think it’s just that in the decisive moments, when I had break points, many times in the second and also at the beginning of the third set, he played some incredible shots and incredible points.”

Currently ranked No. 12 in the ATP Tour’s singles rankings, the legendary Serb went on to bemoan his lack of aggression in certain moments but overall congratulated Struff, adding:

“Maybe there were one or two points where I could have been more aggressive, but all credit goes to him. It hurts that I lost, you know, he just played amazing tennis. I don’t remember playing against someone who was this aggressive and this precise. He went with two first serves, and it was just one of those matches.”

Novak Djokovic needs a deep run at the Paris Masters to have any chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals

The Paris Masters, the year’s final ATP Masters 1000 tournament, is set to be Djokovic’s next event. However, if the Serb wants to fulfill his desire of qualifying for the year-end ATP Finals, he will need to string together a run of positive results in Paris.

As things stand, Djokovic finds himself in 11th place in the Live Race to Turin. To qualify for the year-end championships, he needs to finish 9th. Currently, that spot is occupied by Spanish youngster Rafael Jodar, who is 319 live points ahead of the Serb.

After the former No. 1’s shocking loss to Struff in Basel, prominent tennis journalist Jose Morgado had this to write on X (formerly Twitter):

“Novak Djokovic needs at the very least semifinal in Paris to have a chance to make Turin. A final would likely do it and a title would surely do it. He won’t even have a first round bye there.”

It’s worth noting that Djokovic will head to the Paris Masters as the tournament’s record seven-time former champion.