Novak Djokovic will return to competitive tennis at the Shanghai Masters next month, the tournament confirmed on Tuesday.

Djokovic, a four-time champion at the event which runs October 1-12, has not played a match since losing the U.S. Open semifinal to Carlos Alcaraz three weeks ago, and has generally played a light schedule over the last few years.

He did play Shanghai in 2024, losing to Jannik Sinner in the final, but said after the U.S. Open that he wasn’t sure how much more he would play the rest of this season.

“It’s really still a question mark where I’m going to go and what I’m going to do,” he said, after confirming his plan to compete at the Hellenic Championship in Athens at the start of November. Djokovic’s family owns the license for the event, which was previously held in Belgrade, and finishes the day before the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy get underway. Djokovic skipped the ATP Finals last year.

Djokovic is also slated to take part in the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in mid-October.

He’s back 🤩

Our 4-time champ, @DjokerNole will return to Shanghai this year!#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/PaF2DPfcM5

— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) September 23, 2025

There is added intrigue around Djokovic playing Shanghai following his claim after exiting the U.S. Open that he would have a better chance of beating Alcaraz or Sinner over three rather than five sets. Djokovic lost to those two in three of the four slams this year, and in the other one (the Australian Open) beat Alcaraz in the quarters but suffered a hamstring injury during it that forced him to retire mid-match against Alexander Zverev in the semis.

In Shanghai next month, he will hope to have a crack at one or possibly both of them, in the best-of-three format that should penalise his 38-year-old body less.

“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 in a news conference after comfortably losing to Alcaraz in straight sets at the U.S. Open. “So, you know, that could serve me better in the matchups against them.”

A good run in Shanghai would also strengthen Djokovic’s chances of a top-four ranking for the end of the year, and with it a more favourable seeding and draw at January’s Australian Open, where the world No. 4 will be looking for an 11th title and a record-breaking 25th major.

(Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)