Players complain of 'brutal' heat at Shanghai Masters

VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM TALLON GRIEKSPOOR, NOVAK DJOKOVIC AND JUAME MUNAR ABOUT THE HUMID CONDITIONS AT THE SHANGHAI MASTERS RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT AND SHOTLIST SHOWS: SHANGHAI, CHINA (OCTOBER 5, 2025) (ATP MEDIA / IMG – Access all) 1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FOUR-TIME SHANGHAI MASTERS CHAMPION NOVAK DJOKOVIC TALKING ABOUT CONDITIONS DURING HIS MATCH AGAINST YANNICK HANFMANN: "It's brutal when you have over 80% humidity day after day for the guys, particularly when they're playing during the day with heat, with sun. You know, it's even more brutal. So it is what it is, you just have to deal with it. For me, biologically, a bit more challenging to deal with it. But look, you know, I had to really weather the storm today. 2. WHITE FLASH 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUTCH TENNIS PLAYER TALLON GRIEKSPOOR SPEAKING ABOUT THE CONDITIONS AFTER HIS OPPONENT JANNIK SINNER RETIRED WITH INJURY: "First of all, this is definitely not the way you want to win. Brutal conditions here in Shanghai all week already. I felt we were still a little bit lucky to play in the evening without sun. But two hours thirty-six on the clock, middle of the third set. I'm sorry for him. I wish him a speedy recovery. And yeah, like I said, definitely not the way you want to win. 4. WHITE FLASH 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPANISH TENNIS PLAYER JUAME MUNAR SPEAKING ABOUT THE CONDITIONS AFTER NEEDING THREE SETS TO WIN HIS MATCH AGAINST YOSHIHITO NISHIOKA: "Yeah, it was very tough tonight. Been feeling not great the last couple of days, struggling. Physically, yesterday I took a day off to recover a little bit. Didn't know this morning if I was able to perform at the highest level to play a match like that. And yes, really, really happy that I came through a very tough one. I think both of us played at a very good level for almost the whole match. And today, here with the humidity, with everything, it was a real fitness battle." STORY: The players struggled at the Shanghai Masters in temperature of 92 degrees (34 celsius) on a humid day on the court that left many feeling discomfort. Just ask Novak Djokovic, the No. 4 seed, who needed three sets to get past German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. "It's the same for every player out on the court, but it's brutal," Djokovic said of the weather conditions in Shanghai, where the daytime the humidity reached with 89 percent. "It's brutal when you have over 80 percent of humidity day after day, particularly for the guys when they're playing during the day with heat, with sun, it's even more brutal." Djokovic will play Spaniard Juame Munar who also referred to the conditions in his post match interview after beating  Tallon Griekspoor was thankful to get through his match with world number two Jannik Sinner, but worried for the Italian who retired with what looked like cramp. "This is definitely not the way you want to win," Griekspoor said. "Brutal conditions here in Shanghai all week already. I thought we were a little bit lucky to play in the evening without sun, but two hours and 36 minutes on the clock, middle of the third set … I'm sorry for him. I wish him a speedy recovery." (Production: Simon Ormiston)

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