Casper Ruud has admitted that he and his ATP Finals rivals were “stressed” before Novak Djokovic helped them out.

Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alex De Minaur were in a three-man race for the last two spots in the year-end championships.

The three men had entered 250 events this week to try and secure their places. But they were saved the hassle when Djokovic pulled out of the ATP Finals.

Djokovic’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals were under threat when he pulled out of the Paris Masters. But Ruud and Rublev both lost their opening matches, meaning they couldn’t gain any points to help them secure a spot.

De Minaur did better and moved up to eighth in the race but Djokovic managed to qualify because nobody overtook him. It meant the three players were left to battle it out for the remaining places.

Ruud and Rublev entered the ATP 250 in Metz while De Minaur entered Belgrade. But on Tuesday, Djokovic announced he was pulling out. It meant the last three spots automatically went to the trio.

And they were clearly relieved to make it to Turin without being forced to battle it out at smaller tournaments this week. Ruud has not played in the ATP Finals since 2022 when he finished as the runner-up.

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After making it back into the elite eight, the Norwegian admitted he and his rivals had been worrying about who would get in. “It’s just really good to be back,” Ruud said.

“This is a really important tournament and it shows that you had a great year. I’m proud to be here, I didn’t make it last year so motivation was high to do it this year.”

Ruud and Rublev have been drawn in the John Newcombe group with Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. While they were fighting to secure the last two places in Turin, both men are happy to see each other make it.

The world No. 7 continued: “We sit here today and it was getting pretty close towards the end of the season who is going to be here and I’m happy that both me and Andrey made it.

“And of course the others! But Andrey and me, we were quite stressed for a few weeks.”

Rublev was arguably the one who benefitted the most from Djokovic’s withdrawal. The Russian was ninth in the race and outside the qualification zone before the seven-time former champion pulled out.

It allows Rublev to make his fifth consecutive ATP Finals appearance but he admitted that he’d rather be coming to Turin in better form. “I will be more proud to win more matches,” he laughed.

“But of course, if I will be serious, of course I’m really happy to be back here, to do it five times in a row.

“It’s always great to finish the year being here and like Sascha or Charley were saying. All the players in the beginning of the season, they would like to qualify but there is only eight spots so to be one of those players, it’s a big honour.”