Alcaraz wins in Tokyo but pulls out of Shanghai.

World number one Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-4 at the Japan Open - before pulling out of this week's Shanghai Masters.

Carlos Alcaraz’s Tokyo win is another notch on his 2024 belt, but the Shanghai withdrawal makes sense. He’s been on a tear—Cincinnati, US Open, Tokyo—so the body is inevitably catching up. Twisting his ankle in the first round of Tokyo was a warning sign, even if he brushed it off to dominate Taylor Fritz in the final. Pulling out before Shanghai is classic long-game thinking: better to miss one Masters event than risk derailing the rest of the season, especially with Turin (ATP Finals) and the year-end No.1 ranking at stake.

There’s a little irony, though—he’s chasing Sinner’s win tally (73 vs. Alcaraz’s 67) while Sinner keeps motoring forward. Jannik’s win over De Minaur in Beijing keeps that tally climbing, and now he has a shot at reclaiming the China Open title. A potential Alcaraz–Sinner collision in the year-end finals is practically baked in at this point, and both of them seem to know it.

Meanwhile, Learner Tien making his first ATP final is a bit of fresh oxygen in this circuit. A 19-year-old American stepping into a spotlight usually reserved for the same half-dozen names is noteworthy. The Medvedev drama adds spice—cramping, fines, arguing with officials. Medvedev seems perpetually at war with both his body and the umpires, and it cost him here.

The men’s tour right now feels like three overlapping narratives:

1. Alcaraz and Sinner quietly building a modern Borg–McEnroe dynamic.

2. The older guard (Djokovic, Medvedev, maybe Tsitsipas if he can stay relevant) fading in and out of contention.

3. A younger wave—Tien, Shelton, Fils—sniffing around the edges, ready to crash the established order.

The Shanghai withdrawal isn’t a setback for Alcaraz so much as a reminder: tennis seasons are marathons disguised as sprints, and the clever runners save a little oxygen for the last lap.