Novak Djokovic made a winning return to his familiar stomping grounds in Shanghai, edging past American Alex Michelsen 7-6(3), 7-6(9) for his 35th career Shanghai Masters victory. The four-time champion (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018) is making his first appearance at Shanghai since 2019, and he was given a warm welcome from the home fans.
"All these days since I arrived to China and Shanghai, plenty of love and support," Djokovic said. "Today on the court was marvelous. To experience the introduction and the support and love from Chinese fans in this way is exactly the reason why I came. I really missed being in Shanghai, I missed China. Five years is way too long for the kind of support that I'm getting here, so I want to thank everybody from bottom of my heart for coming out already in the first match, filling up the stadium, and creating a great atmosphere. Hopefully, they enjoyed it, it was a great match."
Fourth-seeded Djokovic was pushed early and often by Michelsen, who earned a pair of set points in the second set but could not capitalize on his opportunities against the 24-time major champion.
“I have watched Alex play the last couple years, but I've never faced him, and it's different when you're on court,” Djokovic said. “These conditions I think are quite suitable to him. He has a big serve, he has attacking style of tennis, and, yeah, it was very challenging for me at times, particularly the beginning. He was all over me, I would say, in the first five games, and took me a little bit of time to get the rust off from not playing an official match for quite a few weeks.”
Djokovic will face either Stan Wawrinka or Flavio Cobolli in the third round at Shanghai.
The 37-year-old says he is fired up to continue his success, especially given the strong support he is getting as his love affair with the Chinese public continues.
Djokovic has always embraced the culture and makes great effort to speak Chinese beyond the customary hello and thank you. Today he signed the camera in Chinese characters: “I love you, China.”
“The expectations are always there,” Djokovic said of his chances of winning his 100th title next week. “Any tournament I play, anywhere I play, any match I play, people expect me always to win. I'm used to that by now. I have, of course, expectations for myself. Any match, against anybody, anywhere, I want to win, so that's the kind of mentality that I've nurtured my entire career. It's no different here.
“You mentioned the fact that I haven't been here five years, and I think that brings me extra motivation, particularly because of the love and support that I've been getting today and all these days here in Shanghai. It's just remarkable. I'm very grateful to all the fans waiting in front of hotel, practice court here, I mean, it's just, I mean, I've been coming to China for so many years, but I don't think I've ever experienced this, this level, this intensity of support, it's just something that I'm very, how can I say, blessed with it, you know, very privileged to be in the position to be supported and followed by many people.”
Djokovic hit 34 winners against 24 unforced errors to increase his hard court winning streak to 33 against American players. When Michelsen had his chances, at 8-7 andn 9-8 in the second set tiebreak, he made easy errors. Djokovic took the hint and finished off his win in one hour and 56 minutes.
He improves to 33-8 on the season and 1120 and 221 for his career.