南方财经全媒体集团首席记者 施诗  上海报道
As Asia's biggest and most prestigious ATP tournament, the 2024 Shanghai Masters kicked off on Oct. 2nd. This year, all the big names in tennis have returned to Shanghai to compete for the champion.
Since Chinese athletes have made history in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a tennis singles gold medal and a mixed doubles silver - the best results in relevant events, tennis craze is sweeping across the country. At the same time, Chinese players' impressive performance in tennis "China Season" ignited tennis craze in further. For instance, Juncheng Shang claimed a first career title in Chengdu and Bu Yunchaokete reached the semifinals of China Open for the first time. These historcial moments helped tennis catch more attention in Shanghai.
World No. 1 and Italian player Jannik Sinner commented, "I practice quite a lot now with Chinese players, and everyone plays very good tennis. I think the tennis here in China, it will grow. I'm quite confident that it will become big here in China."
Serbian player Novak Djokovic also thought that the future is bright for Chinese tennis in both women's and men's sides. He noted that this will increase the overall investment in tennis. China has some of the best tennis stadiums in the world. "Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, all these cities have incredible facilities. So I'm excited to see how the Chinese tennis will grow in the future."
"Tennis economy" has become a buzzword on Chinese social media. More and more Chinese people are learning tennis and watching matches in person. Up to now, most tickets for the 2024 Shanghai Masters have been sold out.