Jannik Sinner will not play the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The world No. 1 announced his withdrawal on Saturday on Instagram Stories, four days before the Masters 1000 event begins and almost three months after his last match, the Wimbledon final he won against Alexander Zverev in July.
“Unfortunately I won’t be able to play at the Rolex Shanghai Masters this year as I had hoped,” Sinner wrote. “I always enjoy playing in front of the Shanghai fans and I’m very sorry that I won’t be able to do so next week. I’m looking forward to seeing you again next year!”
The 25-year-old is still recovering from the knee injury that has kept him off the tour since Wimbledon, an absence that has cost him the North American hard-court swing, including the US Open, and his title defense in Beijing. He pulled out of Cincinnati in August with a right knee injury. Shanghai, which runs from 7 to 18 October, is a title he won in 2024, beating Novak Djokovic in the final. He is 44-3 for the season.
What it means for No. 1. Zverev can become world No. 1 when Shanghai ends if he wins the China Open in Beijing for the first time and then wins Shanghai, provided Sinner does not reach the fourth round there. Sinner’s withdrawal settles that last condition, so two titles would take Zverev to the top of the rankings for the first time. He is into the last 16 in Beijing, where his next opponent is Chinese wild card Shang Juncheng, and the China Open ends on 6 October, the day before Shanghai begins. He would be the 30th man to reach No. 1 since the ATP rankings began in 1973.
Where the points stand. After the US Open, Zverev was 1,810 points behind Sinner, but Sinner had 3,550 points to drop over the rest of the season against 1,080 for Zverev. The first 500 of Sinner’s came off this week because he could not defend his Beijing title, while Zverev was defending only a quarterfinal there, worth 100. The largest block still to come is the Nitto ATP Finals. Sinner went unbeaten in Turin last year for 1,500 points; Zverev won one round-robin match for 200.
The field. Shanghai still has four-time champion Djokovic, along with Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli and defending champion Valentin Vacherot. Vacherot won the title last year as a qualifier ranked No. 204, the lowest-ranked Masters 1000 champion in history. Alcaraz is still chasing his first Shanghai title. Auger-Aliassime arrives with Ivan Ljubicic newly added to his team, and João Fonseca had already taken Shanghai off his schedule.
What missing it costs. Shanghai is one of the mandatory Masters 1000 events for a commitment player. How a missed one is treated in the ranking calculation, and what it takes out of a player’s share of the season-end bonus pool, is set out in GTN’s ATP bonus pool explainer.
What comes next. The rest of the ATP season includes the ATP 500 events in Vienna and Basel, the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin in November. Sinner has already qualified for Turin, where he is the two-time defending champion, and Zverev led the Race to Turin after the US Open. The Shanghai Masters guide has the dates, draw format and past champions.
