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The Shanghai Masters will present a chance for top tennis players who missed out in the recent US Open to redeem themselves.
With all four grand slam titles done and dusted, this masters event provides tennis players with another chance to lay their hands on some silverware.
This has been a difficult year for Roger Federer, though he started it off by winning his record 20th grand slam at the Australian Open in January. The world number two will feel this 1 000-point tournament should go his way to end the year on a high.
Should it all go well for him, Federer will rewrite history again – last year, he became the oldest man to win this tournament at the age of 36.
With current ATP world number one Rafael Nadal out nursing a knee injury, Federer will have one less problem to deal with. Federer beat Nadal 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the Shanghai title last year.
But reigning US Open champion Novak Djokovic could prove to be the stumbling block to Federer’s ambitions.
Since the first Shanghai Masters was played in 2009, Djokovic has won the tournament three times – in 2012, 2013 and 2015.
He shares this record with Andy Murray.
After clinching two grand slam titles this year, Djokovic is the biggest winner. As it stands, he could also have a chance of finishing at the summit.
Before he won Wimbledon, he was ranked outside the top 20, but has since managed to be one of the contenders for the number one spot.
Djokovic is ranked at number three with 6 445 points, 2 315 points behind Nadal, who has 8 760. But he is within reach of Federer, as only 455 points separate them. If the Swiss does not defend his title, he will lose 1 000 points.
South African ace Kevin Anderson must perform well if he wants to keep alive his hopes of being among the top eight leading to the final event of this year. The ATP finals will take place at the O2 Arena in London from November 11 to 18.
Anderson reached his career highest ranking at number five after his heroics at Wimbledon, where he lost the final to Djokovic.
He moved down to ninth position after the US Open last month, where he lost to Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the round of 16. It meant the 2.03m-tall giant could not protect the points he collected last year when he reached the final in New York. Anderson earned 1 200 points for his runner-up effort at last year’s US Open.
The Shanghai Masters starts on Monday.
