Players Most in Need of a Win at the 2015 Shanghai Masters
The 2015 Shanghai Masters is Asia’s crown jewel on the ATP tour, and there is no shortage of superstars who could use this title to boost their momentum. Is it more important for world No. 1 Novak Djokovic or for a second-tier star like David Ferrer, who is trying to be one of the elite eight participants for London’s year-end WTF finals?
First, we will not consider players who are realistically out of the the running for the Race to London. We bid goodbye to David Goffin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon. They are not going to win Shanghai and Paris to boost themselves towards 4,000 points in 2015, a mark usually needed for qualification.
That leaves us top-10 players and a few just on the outside who need to win Shanghai for various reasons. We count down the top five.
5. Novak Djokovic
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Novak Djokovic does not desperately need to win Shanghai for the reward of 1,000 points. He’s long since left the rest of the ATP tour in his dust. He could take a nap until the WTF year-end final, roll into London and still be the man to beat.
So why is Djokovic even on this list?
Actually, the Serbian would probably feel slighted that he is not heading this list. Such is the mentality of the best player in the world. He’s tasted championship glory in majors 10 times, and he’s suffered some tough big-match losses.
He is certainly not going to be satisfied to show up anywhere and watch someone else cart off a trophy, be it a country-club match in Belgrade or a Masters 1000 final in Shanghai.
Djokovic despises giving an edge to any of his rivals, and he would prefer to bury them all together. He wants to prove that there is no blueprint to stopping his domination.
4. Marin Cilic
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Is there still time left for Marin Cilic to make it back to London? That’s why he’s in our countdown. He really needs to win Shanghai to challenge David Ferrer’s No. 8 position, and he is capable of pulling it off.
Cilic has the serve and powerful strokes to win anywhere, so long as he has the momentum. A few weeks ago, he was a semifinalist at the U.S. Open, but he ran out of gas and got rolled by eventual champion Novak Djokovic. It was another hard reminder that he is not at the Serbian’s level.
If Cilic can win Shanghai’s 1,000 points, he would have every motivation to live up to his billing at St. Petersburg’s 250-level tournament. Then perhaps a finalist appearance at Paris would be enough to cross the channel to London.
Shanghai is Cilic’s keystone.
3. Roger Federer
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Roger Federer has had enough time to get over the sting of losing the U.S. Open final. The disappointment will never be completely erased, but he’s a champion professional who has been through both sides of major finals for over a decade. It was probably good for him to dive into Davis Cup competition a few days later.
Now it’s time to get back to work.
The Swiss maestro has usually thrived on the fast courts. He has the perfect skill set and proven legacy to be the big winner as 2015 fades into November’s final days.
In short, Federer needs to keep dominating everyone ranked behind him, and he needs to knock a few dents into Djokovic, maybe at Shanghai or Paris.
Federer is looking to defend his title at Shanghai, and he would love to snap Djokovic’s three-year reign with the WTF crown. It would be Federer’s seventh time winning that trophy.
It does not all hinge on Shanghai the way it does for Marin Cilic, but Federer needs to continue his best play as he continues his crack at an 18th major as early as January 2016 in Melbourne. He does not want Djokovic to race out of sight for good.
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2. Richard Gasquet
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What a story it would be if Richard Gasquet could win his first Masters 1000 tournament. In fact, Gasquet has not yet won a level-500 tournament. Such is life over the past decade for a talented player caught in the vortex of a super era of tennis.
The Frenchman is not just a sentimental story who found a little extra warmth during a comeback summer. He’s played some of his best tennis, even if he was whitewashed by Djokovic and Federer at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open respectively.
The biggest problem was this week’s first-round defeat in Beijing. He was trailing David Ferrer by about 900 points, but must watch the little Spaniard collect more points while he knows that his hopes to be a WTF contender are in Shanghai.
He's a long shot at best, but there’s still a lot to like about Gasquet. He’s shown more toughness than in previous years, and just maybe he can put together a magical ride in the Far East.
There’s probably no other player on earth who would greater appreciate a Masters 1000 title.
1. Rafael Nadal
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How can Rafael Nadal shake off 2015 and return to an earlier version of himself? Earlier this week, we noted that his break-point volume has put him under more pressure.
If he is to return at, or near, the top of tennis and win a 15th major, he needs to start somewhere with a huge unexpected title.
What Nadal needs is to sweep through Shanghai like he did at Cincinnati in 2013.
For the first time in his career, Nadal’s capability in winning this tournament is in question. This is not springtime clay, but a big title now could do a lot to warm his winter and give him the extra vigor he needs to put Melbourne back into his crosshairs.
If Nadal does go on a run at Shanghai he would likely be fated to meet up with one of his great rivals, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.
A win against either or both players on the way to a Shanghai surprise would get the tennis world buzzing once again that Nadal is back as a major contender.
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