With Rafael Nadal’s retirement announcement last week, Djokovic can now officially be called the best male player of the Open era—the GOAT, if you will. But he won’t be the favorite in this final, for a few reasons.
Sinner leads their head-to-head 4-3, and he won their last two meetings. He likes a fast hard court, like the one in Shanghai, and he has played exceptionally well on it this week. He’s dropped just one set, and was in easy control against No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev in a 6-1, 6-4 quarterfinal romp.
Maybe more important, though, is Djokovic’s physical state. The 37-year-old has finally begun to show his age in 2024, and that was true again in his semifinal win over Taylor Fritz. Djokovic, who has worn a sleeve on his right knee since having surgery on it in the summer, felt something on his left side in the second set against Fritz, and had a trainer massage his left hip. He survived that set after the American double-faulted on a crucial point in the tiebreaker, but having to go three might have been dicey for the Serb.
