Shanghai Masters draw confirmed as Novak Djokovic faces tough route

The draw for the Shanghai Masters has been made

The draw for the Shanghai Masters has been confirmed as Novak Djokovic faces a tough path to the latter stages of the China tournament. The 24-time Grand Slam winner has only played 40 matches this year and his last match on court saw him bow out of the US Open third round in August. Djokovic admitted that his schedule for the remainder of the year would be “spontaneous”, although he did confirm his participation at the ATP 1000 event for the first time since 2019.

Novak Djokovic will face a tough path to the final at the Shanghai Masters

The 12-day long event will get underway on Wednesday, October 2 running until Sunday, October 13, with qualifying already underway as of September 30. Djokovic will have some time to prepare for his match, as the world No. 4 faces the winner of Alex Michelsen or Yunchaokete Bu in his first match of the competition after receiving a bye into round two. Assuming the Serbian makes it past one of the unseeded duo, he could then face a potential match-up against Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals and the No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev in the last four.

We're ready.

The 2024 #RolexShanghaiMasters draw in fullpic.twitter.com/dTvfKEgw6e — Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) September 30, 2024

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Zverev also has a bye into round two and will be first up against a qualifier in R2 in Shanghai, giving him a favourable chance of meeting his familiar foe Djokovic in the semi-finals. The 37-year-old leads their overall head-to-head battle 8-4, with their last meeting coming at the semi-final stage of the Cincinnati Open in 2023. Djokovic won that day 7-6, 7-5 to reach the final. Despite ending the calendar year without a Grand Slam title to his name for the first time since 2017, Djokovic will be confident of his chances in the Far East. He is a four-time champion at the venue, lifting the winner's trophy in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018. Aside from a fifth title in Shanghai, Djokovic is also hoping to clinch his milestone 100th career title, which would take him closer to matching Roger Federer's haul of 103.

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