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ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi among dignitaries at ceremony
The Rolex Shanghai Masters celebrated 25 years of professional tennis in the Chinese city on Friday.

The Shanghai event has operated as an ATP Masters 1000 since 2009, and was awarded ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year, as voted by players, in each of its first five years with that status. The Nitto ATP Finals, then known as the Tennis Masters Cup, was also held in Shanghai in 2002 and from 2005-08.

The lone Masters 1000 in Asia, Shanghai regularly attracts the biggest names on the ATP Tour, with stars like Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic all former champions at the state-of-the-art Qi Zhong Tennis Center.

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Special guests at Friday's ceremony included ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi; Charles Humphrey Smith, an ATP Tournament Advisory Council member and the Rolex Shanghai Masters managing director; and Rolex Shanghai Masters tournament director Michael Luevano.

Mr. Wang Ping, Deputy Secretary of Municipal People's Government, accepted a special crystal trophy to mark the 25-year celebration.

"China is a very big market and tennis is a global sport," Gaudenzi said during the ceremony. "Our presence here in China is really important for us because we want tennis to become a popular sport in the entire world."

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The growth of tennis in Shanghai has coincided with the rise of Chinese stars at the professional level. In addition to two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na on the women's side, young stars like Wu Yibing, Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng are emerging now on the ATP Tour.