Carlos Alcaraz finds himself in a good position in terms of points dropping at the 2026 Shanghai Masters, while Novak Djokovic has a lot of points to defend.
With the ATP using a rolling 52-week, cumulative system to determine the rankings, the points players earned at the same tournament or corresponding period 12 months ago are removed in the Live ATP Rankings at the start of the current event.
They then earn points for their round-by-round progression and can only earn the same amount of points by equaling their result from 12 months ago.
Just to add to the confusion, the 2026 Shanghai Masters took place a week later than last year, so players are also dropping points from the week of 13 October 2025 and the below tallies include points from the 2025 Almaty Open, European Open and Stockholm Open.
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Valentin Vacherot won the 2025 Shanghai Masters while Felix Auger-Aliassime was the champion in Brussels, Daniil Medvedev lifted the title in Kazakhstan and Casper Ruud was the last man standing in Sweden.
Points The Big-Name Players Will Drop
Jannik Sinner – 50
The world No 1 won’t feature at the Shanghai Masters as he is still struggling with a knee injury, but it is good news on the points situation as he retired from his third-round match last year, so will drop only 50 points.
With Alexander Zverev losing in the quarter-final of the China Open, it does mean Sinner can’t be overtaken after Shanghai even if the German wins the title.
Alexander Zverev – 50
The two-time major winner was stunned by Arthur Rinderknech in the third round 12 months ago so he also only has 50 points to defend.
A title run at the 2026 edition will see him move to 10,720 points while Sinner will be on 10,950, making it impossible for him to become No 1 after the tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz – 0
The reigning Australian Open champion doesn’t have any points to defend as he missed the 2025 tournament due to an ankle injury and also didn’t feature in Almaty, Brussels or Stockholm.
Ben Shelton – 10
The American lost in the second round in 2025 and a deep run could see him make up some ground on those ahead of him in the rankings.
Felix Auger-Aliassime – 200 + 250
The Canadian lost in the quarter-final in Shanghai (200 points) before going on to win the European Open in Belgium (250).
A poor run at the ATP Masters event could see him drop out of the top 10.
Flavio Cobolli – 10 + 50
The Italian lost his opener 12 months ago and reached the quarter-finals in Almaty.
Frances Tiafoe – 50
Tiafoe is defending points from his 18th-best tournament, but has the opportunity to climb further up the rankings with a deep run.
Arthur Fils – 0
New top-10 entrant Fils didn’t feature in Shanghai last year due to a back injury.
Alex de Minaur – 200
The Australian was a quarter-finalist at the ATP Masters 1000 event 12 months ago.
Novak Djokovic – 400
The tennis great, currently No 11 in the rankings, lost in the semi-final against Vacherot last year. He could move back into the top 10 with a title run in China this week, but could then slump out of the top 10 again in Shanghai if he loses early.
Valentin Vacherot – 1,010
The Monegasque enjoyed a fairytale run in 2025 as he won his maiden title and with it came 1,000 ranking points.
Those will drop this week and he could drop out of the top 20 – he is currently at No 14 in the Live Rankings after his run to the semi-final at the Tokyo Open.
Arthur Rinderknech – 650
The Frenchman was the other surprise package in the 2025 final, but lost against his cousin Vacherot.
Rinderknech has been ruled out of this year’s tournament due to an abdominal injury and will drop out of the top 50 as a result.
