LONDON — The ATP has said Novak Djokovic has clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking in men's tennis. Djokovic lost the top spot to Roger Federer in July but will return to No. 1 next week. The ATP said Federer will drop points from his 2011 title wins at the Swiss Indoors and Paris Masters. He lost in the Swiss Indoors final Sunday to Juan Martin del Potro, and then pulled out of the Paris tournament. The ATP says Federer will not be able to earn enough points to finish the year ahead of Djokovic. The 25-year-old Serb will become the first player to finish No. 1 in consecutive years since Federer did it four straight times from 2004-07. Tight schedule behind pullouts Andy Murray said scheduling trouble for future late-season ATP events once the World Tour Finals leave London after 2013 is likely to force some hard choices among players. Murray said that with the London season-ender starting next Monday without a gap between the end of Paris and the first round-robin match in the British capital, players are unlikely to be willing to risk playing three weeks in succession. With all 16 seeds in the field given first-round byes, matches went ahead with lesser lights Monday. In first-round play, Italy's Andreas Seppi beat Martin Klizan 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) while South Anderson Kevin Anderson beat Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 6-1. Carlos Berlocq stopped Denis Istomin 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 and Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz defeated German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. — Agencies
