Practice makes a perfect day out

Enjoying a day at the Rolex Shanghai Masters does not always require a premier seat at the center court for a heavyweight "main event".

The Qizhong Tennis Center is offering a carnival of activities — live music performed on shaded lawns and meet-and-greets with star players and celebrities — for just 60 yuan ($9) a ticket for a ground pass. The first stop for many, though, is the Royal Caribbean Masters Practice Court.

A 1,200-seat open training facility purposely built last year to provide fans a better viewing experience, it has proved a hit, with spectators lining up at the entrance, even before the first match of the day swings off, just to get a front-row peek at their favorite stars' practice drills.

Despite an early exit this year in Shanghai, 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic easily drew the largest crowd to his training session at the court, where the four-time tournament champion fine-tuned his strokes, tested serve placement and improvised on shots during extended rallies just meters away from his "NoleFam" supporters.

The Serbian great acknowledged fans and bantered with them by mimicking his hitting partner whenever he took a break, after eliciting "oohs" and "aahs" from them with either a delicate drop shot or a crisp backhand winner during the rallies.

Young Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz appeared an equally popular crowd-pleaser at the practice court, with spectators leaning forward, phones and autograph pens at the ready, breaking into applause whenever the seven-time Grand Slam champion waved to the stands after hitting a couple of shots at full intensity.

Watching from up close, fans get a real sense for how hard the pros club their shots, how seriously they approach their, sometimes tedious, warm-up routines and how fun their improvised drills can be.

Greek former world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas turned his first open practice on Sunday into a fun challenge, as the tournament's 2019 semifinalist hit against some lucky, randomly selected fans using a pan as his makeshift racket.

Alcaraz stepped it up the next day by pulling off the famed "Impossible Shot" challenge at the practice court with jaw-dropping accuracy.

The task seems fiendishly simple on paper: strike a forehand cleanly through a tiny target hole, cut barely wider than a tennis ball on a vertical board, from behind the baseline. The Spanish maestro made it look even easier by threading a forehand straight through with his first attempt — before some fans had even raised their phone cameras — drawing a roar from the stands.

Wu Xingrun was among the fist-clenching fans watching the Spaniard conjure his magic from courtside, and confessed it was an even better show than spending over 10 times the money to watch a match.

"I think the opportunity to watch and observe the star players from close range, and even exchange a few words with them, is what a true tennis fan would appreciate," said Wu, an amateur player himself who works in finance. "To have this bigger training facility with seating prepared for us is a bonus."

Tournament director Michael Luevano said it was the Chinese fans' growing passion for the sport that pushed organizers to upgrade the facilities, keeping pace with other prestigious events.

"We've seen the success other Masters have had (with practice court access) and we wanted to take it to the next level," Luevano stated on the tournament's official website.

"Chinese fans love to be close to the players. We do activations with the players and the crowd is always enthusiastic and interactive."

Once a young boy who was just as interested then as his fans are now in following the pros' training sessions, Canada's current world No 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime learned how to get creative to watch his heroes practice at his home Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal back in the day.

"I'd get up on my tiptoes and try to see between the holes in the fences," recalled the Montreal native, who was forced to retire from his fourth-round match against Casper Ruud on Wednesday due to an apparent knee injury.

"I always found it more intriguing to go to the practices, to see the players from up close, how they grip the racket and their intensity," he also told the tournament's website.

After a few practice sessions at Qizhong, the 26-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals last year in Shanghai, said he wished he'd had this kind of access when he was young.

"It's a great setup for the fans. It has great visibility from all around the court, which is not always the case. Fans can sit and enjoy it like it's a real match.

"I can relate to the fans, because I was that kid once."