"China has been a place of success and happiness for me. I have had a lot of success in both Beijing and Shanghai in my career. It's been five years since I was last here. I love playing in this country, I love the conditions, I love the support I get and this year I also have the added motivation of trying to win my 100th title. That's all I can say for now."
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Novak Djokovic will be the most anticipated tennis player at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, also because he will return to play in China after a five-year absence. The Serbian tennis player revealed in the media day on the eve of the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 of the season what his big goal is for this Chinese trip.
Djokovic explained that he loves playing in China and that his goal is certainly ambitious: winning the 100th title in his long career.
"I try to improve every day during my training. I am playing many sets and matches trying to reach the desired level, because I have not played many tournaments lately and therefore I have something to catch up on the others. Once again, I hope to be able to use this freshness in some way, as well as the past experiences and successes I have had on this court, to be successful also this year in the tournament.
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I will never stop loving this sport. I still feel so many emotions on the court, not only in competition, but also in training. No matter how much sometimes things don't work out, my relationship with tennis is deep, I fell in love with this sport when I was a child and I still love it. Even when I retire I will continue to practice tennis because I feel I owe a lot to this sport," he added.
Djokovic expressed on Jannik Sinner's doping issue and WADA appeal to CAS
After the unexpected third-round defeat to Alexei Popyrin in the third round of the US Open and despite having made it clear that he has other priorities at the moment, Nole can still play for the possibility of participating in the Nitto ATP Finals but he will be called upon to achieve an important result in the Chinese competition.
The media day before the debut was an opportunity to return to talk about the Clostebol positivity case that involved Jannik Sinner in recent months. The appeal presented by WADA to the CAS has reopened the matter at a media level and Djokovic gave his honest opinion on the matter.
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"We have a system that doesn't work, it's something that even people who don't follow our sport will notice. There are too many bodies judging and there is inconsistency in their decisions. It won't help tennis at all. Jannik won the three previous appeals and now he has to go through another trial. It must be very hard for him and his family. What amazes me the most is seeing the impressive level of play he is showing, winning most of the matches despite being in a situation like this. I just hope that the case can be resolved as soon as possible, because everything that is happening is not good for our sport," he analyzed.
As for his tournament in Shanghai, after an initial bye, Nole will face one between Alex Michelsen and Yunchaokete Bu in the second round. The challenge in the next round against Stan Wawrinka would be fascinating. From the eighth finals the level rises and therefore here is the possible match with Frances Tiafoe, particularly inspired in this period.
In the quarterfinals the Serbian champion will probably meet one between Andrey Rublev and his friend Grigor Dimitrov. If the Serbian were to push himself to the semifinals there would be the most difficult obstacle. One between Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz, obviously before the hypothetical final. Djokovic has one of his favorite tournaments in Shanghai, having won it 4 times.
