Djokovic Gets Shanghai Bye, Awaits Hurkacz or Duckworth
After his 102nd title in Beijing, Novak Djokovic skips the first round at the Shanghai Masters and will face the Hurkacz vs Duckworth winner in round two.
“I’m traveling to Shanghai tomorrow. I’ll be playing there and I’m looking forward to it,” said Novak Djokovic after winning his 102nd ATP title in Beijing. As of Wednesday, that sentence became a schedule: the Masters 1000 in Shanghai runs until October 18, and the Serbian arrives after three wins in three days against top ten players, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur.
De Minaur retired from the final with an adductor injury, so the trophy in the Chinese capital went to Djokovic, for the seventh time. At the China Open he now stands at 34 wins and no losses.
What did Djokovic bring home from Beijing?
The Beijing title put him in the history books twice. Djokovic became the first player to win an ATP trophy in 21 consecutive seasons, and he now sits right behind Roger Federer on the all-time list of titles:
- Jimmy Connors, 109 titles
- Roger Federer, 103
- Novak Djokovic, 102
- Ivan Lendl, 94
- Rafael Nadal, 92
One trophy separates him from Federer. The Swiss won his 103rd and last title in Basel in 2019, at age 38, and that season he collected four trophies: in Dubai, Miami, Halle and Basel. Djokovic has already played past the age at which Federer stopped, and after Federer he needs seven more titles to catch Connors’ record.
Before Beijing, Djokovic had lost in the first round twice in a row, even though he holds the records of 24 Grand Slams, 40 Masters titles and seven ATP Finals. After the title he said:
“I am very proud of this achievement. It came at the best possible moment, as a boost to my confidence and proof that I can still play at the highest level.”
How does Goran Bubanj see it?
Tennis coach Goran Bubanj appeared on RTS’s Morning Program to explain what stands behind 21 seasons with a title. His answer started with habits:
“His longevity is really a consequence of his approach to sport and to tennis in general. That professionalism, those sacrifices he made throughout his career, are paying off by letting the career last longer.”
On Beijing, Bubanj said: “It’s only human that after almost two decades of suffering back-to-back first-round losses for the first time, especially at the US Open, which is unreal for him, you look for refuge in an environment that has always been kind to you. And that is China and Beijing.”
On Shanghai, he was more cautious:
“This is first of all a kind of satisfaction for him, a way of proving all those ‘doubting Thomases,’ as I’d call them, wrong and showing that he can do it. I don’t believe he will repeat that result in Shanghai. It’s a very tough tournament, he has tough opponents from the very start, but it gives him a boost to head, above all, toward the final tournament in Turin.”
Who stands in his way in Shanghai?
According to RTS, Djokovic is the fourth seed in Shanghai and has a bye in the first round. In the second, he meets the winner of Hubert Hurkacz against James Duckworth. His possible path through the draw looks like this:
- third round: Lorenzo Musetti
- round of 16: Frances Tiafoe or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- quarterfinal: Ben Shelton or Jakub Mensik
- semifinal: Alexander Zverev
- final: Carlos Alcaraz
Zverev lost to Djokovic in Beijing, in the quarterfinal. Alcaraz is chasing his first Shanghai title, coming off a win in Tokyo.
Valentin Vacherot is the defending champion, having beaten Arthur Rinderknech in last year’s final. Jannik Sinner is out: a knee injury that has bothered him since July ended his season, and his absence opens Zverev’s road to the number one spot in the ATP rankings by the end of the year. For Djokovic it means second place and a better chance of returning to the ATP Finals in Turin after three years.
Alongside Djokovic, Serbia is represented in Shanghai by Miomir Kecmanovic, who has already beaten Shimabukuro in the first round and plays Jakub Mensik in the second, and Hamad Medjedovic, who opens against Argentina’s Tiago Agustin Tirante and could then face Rafael Jodar.
Bubanj looked past Shanghai at the end of his appearance. Djokovic, he says, has set out, both publicly and privately, to play at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles:
“I believe he will achieve it. Whether he will be able to go there with a shot at a result is very hard to predict. But looking at the short term, I think the next couple of months will also have a significant effect on the whole of next year, and even on those Olympic Games.”
The first step on that road is the second round in Shanghai, and the tournament runs until October 18.
