Roger Federer to play ANOTHER player at Shanghai Masters today if Del Potro quits?

Juan Martin del Potro is a doubt to face Roger Federer today after falling on his wrist in the quarter-final win over Viktor Troicki.

He got through that one but has bruising on his wrist and may not play against Federer in the semis.

If Del Potro loses his fitness race, Shanghai fans will only be able to see Rafael Nadal in action while Federer gets a bye. It would leave a gaping hole in the scheduling for supporters who have paid big cash for tickets.

Asked on Sky Sports whether Federer could play Troicki as a lucky loser, ATP Chief Player Officer Ross Hutchins said: “It is something we’ve looked into in the last couple of years.

“There’s been a few incidents, one or two a year, where in the latter stages of events there have been some retirements or walkovers where players have got injured in their previous matches.

“Or when they fell sick overnight or a freak incident which could happen at any moment.

“We’ve looked closely but, at the moment, we thought it’s best not to do something or implement something because there’s so many different elements which could come into play.

“Whether it’s keeping players an extra day or two across every single tournament because you can’t pick and choose which tournaments this could happen because you can’t predict the future.

“Also, how would it affect the rankings when someone in our sport, once you’re eliminated in the main draw, it’s normally end of the week but now we’re saying ‘you can come back in the draw now through the back door’.

“That could have a big influence on the rankings when it comes to big bonuses or rankings movements or end-of-year finishes,it can have a major influence when you’ve already been eliminated.”