Novak Djokovic to test best-of-three theory with Shanghai Masters return

Novak Djokovic will return to competition at next month’s Rolex Shanghai Masters, setting up an intriguing late-season showdown with the rivals who have troubled him most this year.

The tournament confirmed on Tuesday that the four-time champion will make his 14th main-draw appearance at the ATP Masters 1000 event, which runs October 1–12.

For Djokovic, it will be his first outing since the U.S. Open, where he fell in the semifinals to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. That defeat, one of three at Grand Slams this season to either Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, left the 24-time major winner openly questioning how often he would play again in 2025.

“It’s really still a question mark where I’m going to go and what I’m going to do,” Djokovic admitted in New York.

His decision to enter Shanghai therefore represents a small but significant shift. At 38, Djokovic has increasingly tailored his schedule around the majors, often skipping Masters 1000 events.

Only weeks ago, he suggested the two-week format of many Masters events was “just way too long for me.” Yet after his loss to Alcaraz in straight sets at Flushing Meadows, he also conceded that shorter formats might now suit him better.

“I do fancy my chances a bit more in best-of-three, I guess, one-week tournaments or the Masters tournaments where you have almost two weeks with quite a few days between matches,” Djokovic said. “So, you know, that could serve me better in the matchups against them.”

The comments reflect not only the physical calculations of a 38-year-old body but also the realities of a new order in men’s tennis.

Alcaraz and Sinner have beaten Djokovic in three of the four majors this year, and his only victory over them — against Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarterfinals — ended with a hamstring injury that forced him to retire against Alexander Zverev in the next round.

By returning in Shanghai, Djokovic appears ready to test his “best-of-three” theory in a setting that has long been friendly to him. He has lifted the trophy four times in the Chinese metropolis, most recently in 2018, and reached last year’s final before falling to Sinner.

A deep run this year could serve multiple purposes: adding another prestigious title to his resume, sharpening his match fitness before the ATP Finals in Turin, and boosting his year-end ranking.

Currently ranked third in the PIF ATP Race to Turin, Djokovic is still fighting to secure a top-four seeding for January’s Australian Open, where he will chase a record-extending 11th title and a 25th Grand Slam overall.

Shanghai provides him the chance to bank crucial points and momentum, even as his schedule around it remains selective.

Beyond Shanghai, Djokovic is slated to appear in the high-profile Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh in mid-October and at the ATP 250 event in Athens in November, a tournament operated under his family’s license. That event finishes just before the ATP Finals, which Djokovic skipped last year.