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Rolex Shanghai Masters to delight fans during holidays
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THE Rolex Shanghai Masters, the city’s annual tennis extravaganza for sports fans, is about to begin at the Qizhong Tennis Center in Minhang District.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner, five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz, and 24-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Shanghai Masters winner Novak Djokovic will lead a star-studded line-up of world tennis players at the ATP 1000 event from Monday to October 12.
The men’s singles draw remains a 96-entry format. In accordance with Masters regulations and the tournament structure, the top 78 players in the world rankings (including protected rankings) will automatically qualify for the main draw.
Among them, the top 32 seeded players will receive a first-round bye, advancing directly to the second round. Additionally, five wild cards, one special exemption and 12 qualifiers from the Masters qualifying rounds held on Monday and Tuesday will complete the main draw.
As the world’s top two players, the rivalry between Italy’s Sinner and Spaniard Alcaraz is undoubtedly the most talked-about and intensely competitive matchup in men’s tennis today. Their 14 encounters so far, dubbed the “Sincaraz rivalry,” have taken place in 10 different cities.
This season, all four of their meetings occurred in finals, with Alcaraz holding a 3-1 advantage. Will Shanghai be the next stage for their clash? This is the thrilling prospect anticipated by Chinese and global fans alike.
Moreover, the battle between the two for the year-end world No. 1 ranking has reached a fever pitch, and the Rolex Shanghai Masters will be a crucial battleground in their contest. In the past, the Shanghai event has witnessed classic matchups like the “Fedal” (Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal) and “Fed-Djokovic” (Federer vs. Djokovic) rivalries. This time, fans eagerly anticipate the next-generation “Sincaraz” showdown.
The main draw also features 19 Masters champions, including eight players with two or more Masters titles.
Popular star players like Alexander Zverev of Germany, Andrey Rublev of Russia, American Ben Shelton and Alex de Minaur of Australia will compete in both singles and doubles events.
On the home front, China’s current top male player, Bu Yunchaokete, will make his third consecutive appearance in the main draw.
In 2023, the young player from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region participated as a wild card. The next year, he entered the draw with a special exemption. Coming to 2025, Bu will directly qualify based on his world ranking for the first time.
The 23-year-old is currently the only male singles player from the Chinese mainland ranked within the world’s top 100. He is also the only Chinese male player to have competed in all four Grand Slams this year, though he unfortunately exited in the first round each time. On home soil, Bu will undoubtedly strive to be in his best form.
Another local player Zhang Zhizhen has been absent from the tour for about half a year due to injury, missing several major tournaments, including the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. His world ranking has dropped from 31 in July last year to around 190.
Last week, Zhang participated in the Hangzhou Tennis Open and defeated Bu in his comeback match. Whether the former top Chinese player will appear in this year’s Shanghai Masters remains uncertain.
Also worth watching are a group of young players who have delivered outstanding performances this season. Among them is Jack Draper, the Briton who claimed his first Masters title at the Indian Wells Masters and will make his debut in Shanghai this year.
Czech Jakub Mensik, who reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Shanghai Masters, returns this time as the Miami Masters champion. Shelton, the newly crowned National Bank Open champion, achieved his first Masters quarterfinal in Shanghai in 2023 and will undoubtedly aim to go even further this year.
The men’s doubles field is led by the current world No. 1 pair of Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, who recently lifted their first Grand Slam men’s doubles trophy at Wimbledon.
The second seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic have claimed three Masters titles this season. As a member of the 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters doubles championship-winning team, Pavic will be aiming for his second title in Shanghai.
The third and fourth-seeded pairs are Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos, the 2023 Shanghai champions, and Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten, this year’s Australian Open winners.
The 2019 Shanghai singles finalist Zverev will team up with his good friend Marcelo Melo, one of the most successful doubles players in the history of the Shanghai Masters. Brazilian Melo has reached the doubles final five times and won the title in 2013, 2015 and 2018 with three different partners.
This year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters coincides with the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, making it an attractive destination for spectators both from outside Shanghai and overseas.
The amateur-focused “One-Point-Win Tournament” will also return, taking place on October 9 and 10 at the upgraded Court 2 of the Qizhong Tennis Center. The winner will receive tickets and round-trip airfare to this year’s ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.
Since its inception in 2009, the Rolex Shanghai Masters has not only been one of the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments globally but also the sole ATP top-tier 1000-point event in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, it was rated the highest-scoring ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the 2024 season, earning the Standards of Excellence award — a recognition determined by player evaluations based on ATP criteria.
Throughout last year’s event, the tournament attracted more than 220,000 spectators, with its joyous and vibrant festival-like atmosphere, along with its facilities and services, receiving high praise from both players and fans.
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