Djokovic wins his seventh China Open: 102 titles, an eternal 34-0 and De Minaur's retirement

The China Open never got its final — but it crowned a champion: Novak Djokovic lifted his seventh title in Beijing yesterday, his first since 2015, after Alex de Minaur retired with an adductor injury. The Australian won the opening game of the second set and could not go on: 7-6(3), 0-1. The 39-year-old Serb claims the 102nd title of his career, his first of 2026, and keeps a perfect record intact: 34 matches, 34 wins in Beijing.

A final without a final: 67 minutes of war and two physios

The match began as a serve-by-serve chess game: a 67-minute first set without a single break, both men holding firm. In the tie-break the Serb's class told, 7-6(3). But the effort took its toll on both.

After the opening set, both players needed medical attention. Djokovic was feeling his abdomen — the price of his week's battles with Zverev and Medvedev — while De Minaur went to the locker room to have his left thigh strapped. He returned with a white wrap, won the first game of the second set... and that was it: unable to compete at full tilt, he retired.

"I don't feel great," De Minaur told the crowd. "I want to say sorry to the amazing fans that came to watch... I didn't want to finish like this." In press he was more precise: "I was feeling quite good, then I felt something midway end of the first set. It gradually got a little worse. I felt something in the adductor. I don't know what it is yet. I've got to get some more scans." And he made his plan clear: "My plan is to go to Shanghai and get scans."

The world No. 9 leaves with the bittersweet taste of a big week: "Everything except for the end was really positive. There was a lot of good tennis. I played some great stuff. I felt amazing on the court."

102 titles, an eternal 34-0 and a 39-year-old record

• 34-0 in Beijing: seven titles and zero defeats. Nobody has ever beaten him there.
• Title No. 102: one shy of Roger Federer's 103 and seven short of Jimmy Connors' Open Era record (109).
• His first title of 2026 and a 21st consecutive season with at least one trophy.
• At 39, he is the first ATP champion aged 39 or over since Ken Rosewall (Hong Kong, 1977).
• On the way he beat Bu Yunchaokete in a demanding three-setter and top seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.

On what still drives him two decades in, Djokovic pointed to "the grit and the dedication and the kind of never-die spirit that really is always with me". And in the trophy ceremony he did not hide what it meant: "I always want to visualise myself with the trophy, particularly here in Beijing. But I was also quite aware that reality is a little bit different these days." It has been a year, he admitted, of "physical and health issues": "I was just trying to find the good feeling on the court."

The racquets of the final

• Novak Djokovic — Head Speed MP 2026from 195,49 € (his player page): 100 square inches, 315 grams, 16x19 and 60 RA. The tool behind a 34-0 nobody has come close to.
• Alex de Minaur — Wilson Ultra Pro 99: a control frame with no catalog page yet. His retirement leaves his Shanghai opener — qualifier Federico Cina or Alex Molcan — up in the air.
• Daniil Medvedev — Tecnifibre TFight 305Sfrom 209,99 €: 98 square inches, 320 grams and a dense 18x19 — surgical control and a flat rhythm.
• Hubert Hurkacz — Yonex VCORE 98 (8th gen)from 236,95 €: 98 square inches, 321 grams, 16x19 with an aero beam.
• Alexander Zverev — Head Gravity Tour Zverev 2026from 228,95 €: the top seed fell to the champion in the quarter-finals.

Shanghai starts today: no Sinner, plenty of doubts

No rest for the tour: the Rolex Shanghai Masters opens its main draw today (October 7-18) — without the world No. 1. Jannik Sinner announced yesterday that his season is over: he needs treatment for the knee injury he has carried since Wimbledon.

Djokovic is seeded 10th, with a bye into the second round and a tough draw: Hurkacz or Duckworth first, 24th seed Musetti projected in round three, and Zverev, Shelton and Tiafoe in his half. Whether he plays remains to be seen: during Beijing he said he needed to "see how I feel" before deciding, and he left the final with abdominal trouble. De Minaur stays in the draw, a doubt until scans arrive. And at the top: Valentin Vacherot defends the unlikeliest title of 2025 (that final against his cousin Arthur Rinderknech) while Carlos Alcaraz, fresh from the Japan Open title, leads the bottom half.