Watch: Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur play with fans in mini-tennis court ahead of Shanghai Masters

Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur recently engaged with fans ahead of their respective campaigns at the 2023 Shanghai Masters. The duo played tennis alongside children in a mini-court as spectators cheered them on.

Following a frustrating outing at the 2023 China Open, de Minaur aims to bounce back on Chinese soil at the Masters 1000 tournament. Meanwhile, Fritz will make his comeback on the tour after his recent triumph with Team World at the 2023 Laver Cup.

Ahead of the competition, de Minaur and Fritz utilized their leisure time by letting their hair down.

Fritz and de Minaur will commence their campaign in Shanghai on Saturday, October 7. The duo, seeded seventh and eleventh respectively, received direct entry to the second round.

Fritz will face either Chinese wildcard Juncheng Shang or Yosuke Watanuki in his opener while de Minaur will play against the winner from the first-round encounter between Fabian Marozsan and Arthur Rinderknech.

Alex de Minaur failed to advance to the quarterfinals in Beijing last week. The Australian commenced his campaign with a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6) win over Andy Murray before suffering a straight sets loss to Daniil Medvedev in the Round of 16.

Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz pulled out of the ATP 500 tournament. In the Laver Cup, the American defeated Andrey Rublev 6-2, 7-6(3), earning two points for Team World.

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A look at Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur's performance at Shanghai Masters over the years

Taylor Fritz at the 2023 Laver Cup

Taylor Fritz made his debut at the Shanghai Masters in 2016. Since then, the American has regularly featured at the event. He lost 4-6, 4-6 to Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round in his debut appearance.

Fritz crashed out in the first round of qualifiers the following year. In 2018, the 25-year-old defeated Robin Haase in the opener before succumbing to a hard-fought loss against fellow American Sam Querrey.

Fritz endured another second-round exit in 2019, this time losing to Karen Khachanov, who won the encounter 6-2, 6-4.

On the other hand, Alex de Minaur debuted in Shanghai in 2018. He secured impressive straight-set wins against Vasek Pospisil and Benoit Paire but bowed out to fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the third round.

However, de Minaur made an early exit the following year after losing to John Isner 6-7, 4-6 in the opener.

It is worth noting that the Shanghai Masters was not held from 2020 to 2022 due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.