SHANGHAI — Carlos Alcaraz has made a confident start to his bid for a maiden Shanghai Masters title, sealing a comprehensive opening-round win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo on courts playing significantly faster than last year. The tournament's Court Pace Index has risen to 42.3, rated medium-fast, up 9.5 points from 32.8 medium-slow in 2025 and the quickest recorded in Shanghai since 2017.
Speaking courtside after the victory, the 23-year-old was brief but effusive about the new conditions, admitting his aggressive approach had not been pre-planned. “I tried to be ready and get used to the conditions. The speed of the court is very fast, which I like. Thanks to that, I started not very well, not getting the rhythm. So I tried to do something different,” Alcaraz said, adding that being as aggressive as he was ‘wasn’t the plan from the beginning’ but quickly proved the right strategy.
The Spaniard arrives in China having just claimed his first title since returning from injury, with his recovering wrist still under scrutiny on the ATP Tour, and with Jannik Sinner having ended his season early the overwhelming favourite for this portion of the campaign is absent. With a strong serve and frighteningly powerful weapons off both wings, the quicker surface is expected to suit Alcaraz and produce explosive rallies that reward his best aggressive tennis.
The shift is quantifiable and rooted in court construction, where the acrylic coating applied over the hard court dictates pace. The type and amount of sand mixed into the coating, the roughness of the surface layer and tweaks to water-to-sand ratios all contribute, with more or coarser sand increasing friction to grip the ball and slow it, while finer or less sand allows it to skid faster. The acrylic cushion system has the biggest impact, with ITF-sanctioned options to fine-tune speed to specific levels, and in Shanghai that science has delivered a move from medium-slow to medium-fast in just a year.
The change could prove decisive as Alcaraz chases his first crown at the Masters 1000 event, with the faster courts favouring first-strike tennis. Sinner’s absence has amplified the opportunity during the Asian swing, a development examined after Toni Nadal called for radical change after Sinner’s knee setback.