ATP returns to China after four years

The only Asian Masters 1000 event of the year takes place from October 4-15 in Shanghai. The most recent champion was Daniil Medvedev in 2019. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the tournament was not held due to the impact of the pandemic in China.

One week earlier, from September 28 to October 4, the ATP 500 China Open tournament took place in Beijing. At two prominent ATP events in China, Djokovic did not appear even though this is his favorite destination in his career.

"Over the years, China is one of the places where I have received the most enthusiastic support," the world number one tennis player wrote on social networks on September 18. "I will miss the fans very much. Hopefully I can come back and play in front of the audience here again."

According to ATP regulations, Shanghai Masters is an almost mandatory event for players in the top 78 in the world. Big players are only allowed to be absent if they are injured, or are over 30 years old, or have played for over 13 years or won over 600 matches. Djokovic meets the following three criteria, so he can withdraw from the tournament even without injury. The Serbian tennis player, after taking Serbia to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, will focus on the Paris Masters and ATP Finals for the rest of the season.

With Djokovic not competing in China, Carlos Alcaraz has the opportunity to close the point gap with Nole on the ATP rankings table, and dominate the number one race at the end of the year. Alcaraz is 3,260 points behind Djokovic but only needs to defend 360 points for the rest of the season. Nole must defend up to 2,850 points, including 250 points at the Tel Aviv tournament, 500 points at the Astana Open, 600 points at the Paris Masters and 1,500 points at the ATP Finals.

Shanghai Masters brings together most of the top players such as Alcaraz, Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Holger Rune. The total prize money is 8.8 million USD, of which the champion receives 1.26 million.