Welcome to the 7th Edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, one of the world’s biggest tennis tournaments and the only such tournament to be staged outside North America and Europe. The Shanghai Rolex Masters is one of only nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in the world and is the culmination and feature event of the Asian Swing. The Shanghai Rolex Masters was named ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The singles is a 56 draw which means the top eight seeds get first round byes. It is elimination from the first round. There are four wild cards, determined by the tournament directors and seven qualifiers who come through a 28 qualifying draw.
In doubles, it is a 24 draw which means the eight seeds have first round byes. It is also elimination from the first round.
A total of 99 matches will be played—55 in singles, 23 in doubles and 21 in qualifying.
In singles each match is the best of three tie-break sets. Each set is the first to six games with an advantage of two games eg: 6-4. However if the score reaches 6-6 in a set the 12 point tie-break is played. A player can only win the set if he wins the tie-break by two clear points. The farthest a set can go on the ATP World Tour before a tie-break is 7-5.
In doubles the first two sets are the same as in singles but if the match is locked at one set all the teams will play a Match tie-break—the first to ten points with an advantage of two clear points.
Total prize money for the Shanghai Rolex Masters is $4,195,895 USD.
The stunning trophies were designed and created by world famous Royal Selangor Pewter. Three trophies were designed and it went to a public vote via the tournament website to determine the trophy that would be presented. The trophy signifies the roof over Qi Zhong Stadium which is known as the Magnolia Roof. It is a perpetual trophy with the new champions receiving a replica trophy.
In addition to the wonderful Royal Selangor Pewter trophies and the prize money, the players also play for vital points for their world ranking. As the Shanghai Rolex Masters is an ATP Masters 1000 event, it means that the winner will earn 1000 ranking points however points start from the first round—a player losing in the singles first round still earns 10 points.
The hard court surface used at Qi Zhong is called Deco-Turf.
ELECTRONIC LINE CHALLENGING
The Hawk-Eye System is used on the center court. Shanghai was the first city in Asia to use the system. During a set a player receives three incorrect challenges, if a player gets a challenge wrong their number of challenges drops by one until the challenges run out. If the set goes to a tie-break the players receive an additional challenge. A challenge is shown on giant screens atop of center court and everyone can track the trajectory of the ball and where it lands.