Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic will return to Beijing's National Tennis Center as three-time defending champion at the 2015 China Open, set for September 27 through October 11.

We've said it before and we will happily say it again: the China Open is Beijing's best regularly-scheduled sporting event, hands down. The weather is fantastic, the set up is good, the National Tennis Center is actually a great place to watch tennis, and especially if you go in the early rounds, you get to see world-class tennis at ping pong prices.

The 2014 event was overshadowed by the tearful retirement of Li Na, who just a year earlier had played Djokovic in a charity "Battle of the Sexes" match to celebrate the event's 10th anniversary.

Djokovic is the only star confirmed so far for the tournament, but his Wimbledon champion counterpart Serena Williams has been a China Open regular. There's a good joke to be made somewhere in Djokovic playing in Beijing and being sponsored by Uniqlo.

This year's schedule shows some real savvy on the organizers' part. Instead of starting in late September and ending during the October 1 holiday, the 2015 tournament begins on September 27, which also happens to be Mid-Autumn Festival, and ends October 11, after the holiday and when people who otherwise would miss the finals due to vacation will now be able to attend.

Tickets are already on sale via the China Open's website, but the page is only in Chinese. Single and multi-match packages are available.

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Photo: Wikipedia