The Shanghai Masters will be the second last event Masters 1000 event of this season. It has been an event dominated by a handful of players. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray are the multiple title holders in the event. Other than these three, no player has been able to capture the title more than once since the event started in 2009.
In 2007, Federer, along with Nikolay Daydenko and Andy Roddick, met their lookalikes in Terracotta Warrior sculptures. Federer said that his lookalike looked much stronger than him, while Daydenko joked that he had more hair. Roddick was impressed with the sleeves added for Rafael Nadal. He said, “You guys were able to get sleeves on Rafa; that’s impressive in itself.” The American’s lookalike also had a baseball cap.
“Look, you got sleeves on Rafa!”
When @rogerfederer, @andyroddick & Davydenko met their terracotta lookalikes in 2007 😆#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/bCJp3H6R82
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) September 29, 2023
Zhang Yaxi, with fellow Chinese sculptor Shen Xiaonan and French sculptor Laury Dizengremel, came together to make the Tennis Terracotta Warriors. The sculptures were made for the top eight players who had qualified for the Masters Cup in Shanghai. Among those eight, Djokovic is the only one who is still on top of the rankings.
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Nikolay Daydenko sharing history at Shanghai
The Shanghai Masters is back on tour after a three-year gap. The 12th edition will start in three days as players get ready to accumulate points for a good end to the season. Djokovic is the most successful player in the history of the event, having only missed two editions so far. He has 34 match wins and four titles in Shanghai. Djokovic and Murray have won the title twice without dropping a set.
The Serbian will miss the event for the third as he will not play this time. His past arch-rival, Federer, too, had his share of victories in the event. The Swiss maestro is the oldest champion in Shanghai, as he won the event in 2017 when he was 36 years old. Since the beginning, the winner has been a player who is among the top five seeds, except in 2009.
Daydenko has only played in the first two editions of the event. He was the sixth seed in 2009 and beat Nadal in the final. The event has only seen top seeds win the event ever since. There are a lot of expectations for the 12th edition this season. Shanghai has a rich history and will continue to be home for the upcoming legends of the game.
