The penultimate Masters 1000 event of 2023 will take place without the world’s top-ranked player.
Novak Djokovic has confirmed his withdrawal from the tournament which will get underway on October 2nd. In a social media post, the Serbian said he would miss seeing his fans in China but didn’t specify his reason for not playing. It is believed that his decision to do so is due to what has been a hectic past few weeks on the Tour.
Since mid-August Djokovic won the Cincinnati Masters before going on to claim a historic 24th Grand Slam title at the US Open. Less than a week after triumphing in New York, he travelled to Spain for his country’s Davis Cup group matches. At the Davis Cup, he won his singles match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina during Serbia’s clash with Spain. However, the following day Djokovic and doubles partner Nikola Cacic lost their match against the Czech Republic.
“Over the years, some of the best support I receive anywhere in the world is in China. Shanghai has always been one of my favourite tournaments in the season,” he wrote on Twitter. “I will be missing my #NoleFam in China. I hope that I can come back to China in the future and play in front of all of you again.”
The Shanghai Masters is taking place for the first time since 2019 after the past three editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Djokovic has won the event a record four times so far in his career. The only other players to have won Shanghai on multiple occasions are Andy Murray and Roger Federer.
Djokovic has not commented on when he will next play but he will likely be participating at the Paris Masters next month which takes place just before the ATP Finals in Turin. So far this season, he has won 45 out of 50 matches played, earned more than $10.5M in prize money and claimed five Tour titles with three of those being at Grand Slam events.
