The Shanghai Masters is an annual professional men's tennis event held in the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai's Minhang District in early October. The tournament is the eighth of nine ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour, and it is the only one held outside of Europe and North America. The Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 was created to help the ATP World Tour and the Chinese Tennis Association grow the tennis industry in China and Asia.
The event was renamed the Shanghai Rolex Masters in 2010 as a result of a sponsorship arrangement. Shanghai, China's largest city, hosted a professional competition for the first time in 1996. Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia beat Mark Knowles of the Bahamas to win the first Shanghai Open.
The city hosted the year-end championships in 2002, which were then known as the Tennis Masters Cup. The popularity of the 2002 Tennis Masters Cup, which was won by Australian World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, persuaded the ATP to give Shanghai the right to host the event from 2005 through 2007. The ATP had previously rejected the concept of a traveling Tennis Masters Cup.
ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai 2021: Why has the Rolex Shanghai Masters been canceled?
In the 2021 season, the Shanghai Masters ATP Masters 1000 will not take place. The ATP stated in August that the Chinese event will not be conducted this year owing to the coronavirus epidemic, as it was canceled in the 2020 season. After the Chinese competition was canceled, the ATP released an update on the calendar for the last leg of the season, which includes the Masters 1000 in Shanghai as well as the ATP 250 tournaments in Chengdu and Zhuhai, both of which were scheduled in China.
Due to the postponement of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells will be extended from one week to 11 days, from October 7 to October 17. Novak Djokovic has the record for most singles championships with four (2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018). Djokovic and Andy Murray each have two championships in a straight and have been in the most finals (four).
Marcelo Melo (winner in 2013, 2015, and 2018) has the most titles (three) in doubles, while no player has ever won back-to-back tournaments. The tournament awards up to 1000 ATP Rankings points to the singles and doubles champions as an ATP Tour Masters 1000 event. The singles and doubles participants competed for a total of $8,322,885 in the 2019 tournament.
