A draw in the Shanghai Masters has been confirmed and Novak Djokovic faces a difficult course | Tennis

The draw for the Shanghai Masters tournament has been confirmed as Novak Djokovic faces a difficult road to the final stages of the tournament in China.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner has played just 40 matches this year, with his last on-court match coming in the third round of the US Open in August.

Djokovic admitted his schedule for the rest of the year will be “spontaneous”, although he confirmed his participation in the ATP 1000 event for the first time since 2019.

The 12-day event will start on Wednesday, October 2 and last until Sunday, October 13, with qualifying starting on September 30.

Djokovic will have some time to prepare for the match as the world’s fourth-ranked team will face the winner of either Alex Michelsen or Yunchaokete Bu in their first match in the competition after a second-round bye.

Assuming that the Serb overtakes one of the unseeded duos, he could face Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Alexander Zverev in the last four.

Zverev also had a second-round bye and will be the first to face a qualifier in R2 in Shanghai, giving him a good chance to meet his friend Djokovic in the semi-finals.

The 37-year-old leads the entire direct match 8-4, and their last meeting will take place in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open tournament in 2023. Djokovic won that day 7-6, 7-5 and advanced to the final.

Even though Djokovic ended the calendar year without a Grand Slam title 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. In addition to his fifth title in Shanghai, Djokovic is also hoping to win his 100th career milestone title, which would take him closer to matching Roger Federer’s tally of 103 .

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz could also be targeted in the final after being placed in opposite sections of the draw.

Djokovic could be on track to face either of them if he manages to reach the final, though before that he faces potentially tough tests against Andrey Rublev and Zverev.

Hubert Hurkacz is the reigning champion in Shanghai after the Pole defeated Rublev in the final, winning 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 and winning the 2023 title.

However, the 27-year-old will not take part in this year’s event due to a knee injury, and earlier departures from the US Open and Japan Open highlight his fitness problems.