Rome (AFP) - World number one Jannik Sinner on Saturday postponed his return to the tennis courts again, by announcing his withdrawal from the Shanghai Masters tournament scheduled for next week.
Published on: 03/10/2026 - 12:32
The 25-year-old Italian, who won six titles in 2026 with 44 victories and only three defeats, has not played any match since winning the Wimbledon title in July due to an injury to his right knee.
“Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in the Shanghai Masters this year as I had hoped,” Sinner wrote on Instagram before the start of the tournament scheduled between October 7 and 18.
Sinner, who in late September withdrew from the Beijing tournament where he held the title, did not provide any additional clarifications.
According to the Italian press, the winner of five major titles consulted a knee injury specialist in the French city of Lyon on Friday.
His prolonged absence increases the chances of his closest competitor, German Alexander Zverev, to rise to the top of the ATP rankings for the first time before the end of the season.
There are currently 1,370 points separating the first and second places in the world.
Sinner has a much larger number of points to defend than the German until the end of the season, after in 2025 he won the titles of the Beijing and Vienna tournaments in the 500-point category, and the title of the 1000-point Paris Masters tournament, in addition to the final professional tournament in Turin, which gives the winner 1,500 points.
As for Zverev (29 years old), he was much less successful at the end of last season, which will give him the opportunity to add more points than Sinner in the final tournaments of the year.
In addition to winning the first two major titles of his career in 2026 at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows, Zverev reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the final of Wimbledon.
© 2026 AFP
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