"Whole tournament is cursed";"Organizers should be ashamed" - Fans slam Shanghai Masters as Jannik Sinner becomes latest victim of 'brutal' conditions

Jannik Sinner becomes the latest victim of the harsh conditions at the Shanghai Masters, which has already seen several retirements. Sinner was playing against Tallon Griekspoor when he chose to retire in the third set, while trailing 6-7(3), 7-5, 3-2.

Due to the humid and brutal conditions, Sinner suffered from cramps in his thigh. He was unable to stand up easily and struggled between points before eventually throwing in the towel.

After seeing so many retirements, fans called out the tournament organizers for terrible playing conditions.

"This whole tournament is cursed for God's sake," one fan wrote. "Players and their teams should consider this terrible weather condition. Only Ethiopian players can play that condition," another fan wrote. "This episode is an interesting case study on the root cause of cramps... brutal environmental conditions, mental stress...overall supporting a multifactorial etiology. Sinner was doing surprisingly well until a few minutes before the cramps started," one fan commented. "These conditions are brutal, we have seen so many MTO's and retirements already," another fan posted. "Rune struggled this morning, Novak was sick and I was in awe of Munar after seeing how he was fighting through it, you could him struggling and now Sinner." "I keep saying ~ this insane schedule is detrimental to the players," another wrote. "That looked worse than cramping. Maybe I’m wrong Cramping sucks!" one fan wrote. "These organizers should be ashamed of themselves. Literally every day 4 or 5 Players have to withdraw," one fan posted.

Jannik Sinner's opponent acknowledges terrible playing conditions in Shanghai

Jannik Sinner's title defense has ended in the Round of 32 after severe cramps forced him to retire, paving the way for opponent Tallon Griekspoor to advance. After the match that lasted two hours, 35-36 minutes, Griekspoor got real about the conditions in Shanghai.

"This is definitely not the way you want to win. Brutal conditions here in Shanghai all week," Griekspoor said via Reuters. "I thought we were still a little bit lucky to play in the evening without the 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."

Apart from Sinner, there have been several other players who decided not to continue playing because of detrimental conditions. Terrence Atmane retired in his first-round match due to heat stress. Hamad Medjedovic retired against Arthur Rinderknech while up one set. Yibing Wu also had to retire for pretty much the same reason.

Edited by Krutik Jain