Seven-times ATP Finals champion Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the season-ending tournament due to a shoulder injury, hours after winning his 101st title at the Hellenic Championship.
Finalist Lorenzo Musetti will take his place in Turin, where the ATP Finals begin on Sunday, after Djokovic took almost three hours to beat the Italian 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
"I was really looking forward to competing in Turin and giving my best," Djokovic posted on social media.
"But after today's final in Athens, I'm sad to share that I need to withdraw due to an ongoing injury."
Djokovic also missed last year's season-ender with injury, having won his seventh title in 2023.
The 38-year-old said he had been dealing with the injury throughout the tournament in Athens.
"That's the reason why I decided not to make a call would I go to Turin or not earlier because I wanted to see how the matches go, how I react," he told reporters.
"After yesterday's match, I was hoping that it was not going to flare up. But then today, even before the match, it was not great. I had to take all the strong medications to be able to play the match.
"I felt there's no chance for me to go through the entire tournament in Turin with the required level of tennis when you're playing the best eight in the world."
Musetti, who needed to beat Djokovic to overtake Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to qualify for the tournament, will replace Djokovic in the Jimmy Connors Group, with Alexander Bublik now the first alternate.
This marks the first time that two Italian singles players have qualified for the same edition of the ATP Finals, and is Musetti's first appearance.
In a marathon encounter that lasted one minute shy of three hours between the top seeds, Djokovic dropped a set against Musetti on a hardcourt for the first time as the Italian battled to win the match and seal his place at the ATP Finals in Turin.
However, Djokovic recovered to win the second set, showing no signs of his advancing years when he stretched at the net to play a cross-court drop shot doing the splits at full stretch that got the crowd roaring its approval.
The drama reached fever pitch in the decider when an exhausted Djokovic was broken serving for the title at 5-4.
However, he rallied once again to break Musetti before finding his last reserves of energy to serve out the contest and eclipse Roger Federer by claiming a record 72nd hardcourt title.
Djokovic was initially too exhausted to celebrate but, after embracing the 23-year-old Musetti, the Serbian ripped his own t-shirt as he roared in delight.
Djokovic is now two titles behind Federer in the ATP Tour's all-time list while Jimmy Connors leads the way with 109.
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