Who will win the Rolex Shanghai Masters?
Well, we know who won’t win it. The last man standing won’t be Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz withdrew prior to the start of this Masters 1000 tournament due to an ankle injury sustained on the way to last week’s Tokyo title. Sinner retired in the third set of his third-round match against Tallon Griekspoor on Sunday. Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton have already lost.
That means four of the top six players in the world are not part of the Shanghai draw as third-round competition wraps up on Monday. Jack Draper did not play and Karen Khachanov bowed out in his opening match, so six of the top 10 are gone.
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev is the highest-ranked man left in the field, but he struggled with a toe injury on Saturday and is a major question mark to even play his next match against Arthur Rinderknech. Novak Djokovic’s bid for a fifth Shanghai title is still alive, but he was unconvincing in a three-set defeat of Yannick Hanfmann on Saturday.
So, who could take advantage?
Although Daniil Medvedev may not be playing well in 2025, he has a realistic chance to end his title drought that dates back to the spring of 2023. Long before Medvedev can really start thinking about the trophy, however, he has to get past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in round three. Davidovich Fokina could also have designs of his first-ever ATP title coming at the Masters 1000 level.
Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, and Felix Auger-Aliassime are among the other contenders.
who ya got?
It’s pretty amazing that Sinner retired because of cramps, that is something that barely if ever happens in tennis and especially not with the #1 player, it seems he still has physical issues he needs to work on.
Rinderknech knocked out Zverev and so now the clear fav. for the title is Nole and his draw is so sweet, Rune and de Minaur the only possible challengers with Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev as darkhorses.