by Jannik Sinner has received a nightmare draw for the final ATP 1000 Masters events of the season in Paris.
World No. 1 Sinner is looking to end his impressive 2024 on a high after a year of winning his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open.
Still, he has been given a daunting task in Paris, as his opening match in the tournament will be against hard-hitting American Ben Shelton or Canadian indoor specialist Felix Auger-Aliassime.
He could face 2022 Paris Masters champion Holger Rune in a third round match, with in-form Briton Jack Draper also lurking in his half of the draw along with Australian Alex de Mianur.
American Taylor Fritz and German Alexander Zverev also feature heavily in the top half of the draw, ensuring No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz has a much more comfortable route through the tournament.
French Open and Wimbledon winner Alcaraz could face Chilean Nicolas Jarry in his opening match and could face Frenchman Ugo Humbert in round three in front of his home crowd in Paris.
American Tommy Paul is also in Alcaraz’s draw group after his big win at an ATP 250 event in Sweden last week.
Norway’s Casper Ruud is in search of qualifying points for this year’s ATP Finals in Turin and may need to get past Alcaraz to keep his hopes alive.
Sinner and Alcaraz are scheduled to meet in the Paris final, but there will still be some exciting matches to play before the final that the tennis world is dying to see.
Some ATP Masters tournaments this year have been spread over 10 days with 96 participants, but this expanded format has resulted in slow and uninspiring play in the first few rounds.
With this Paris Masters featuring a 64-player draw, we can look forward to some sensational head-to-head matches from day one.
Shelton’s clash with Auger-Aliassime is a standout match in the first round, as is Rune’s bout with Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
Draper has enjoyed a breakthrough year, breaking into the top 20 of the ATP rankings and reaching the semi-finals of the US Open last month.
Now he wants to end his season with success and has to overcome Czech Jiri Lehecka in the first round in Paris, while US Open runner-up Fritz is waiting for the winner of this competition in round two.
Russian Daniil Medvedev could face Wimbledon 2022 runner-up Matteo Berrettini in his opening match in Paris, while France’s Arthur Fils’ clash with experienced Croatian Marin Cilic is sure to be a big game for home fans in France.
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Novak Djokovic’s motivation is questioned by Roger Federer’s ex-coach: “I doubt he will play ATP Finals”
The focus in Paris will be primarily on the players fighting for the final places in the ATP finals. Novak Djokovic’s decision to skip the event opens up the opportunity for Andrey Rublev, Ruud and De Minaur to get one step ahead of the Serb in the fight to secure a place in the lucrative season-ending tournament.
Djokovic currently sits sixth in the ATP Race standings, with the top eight players qualifying for Turin.
Still, there are indications that the 24-time Grand Slam champion could decide against taking part in the ATP Finals even if he has enough qualifying points to take part.
Djokovic is the reigning ATP Finals champion but he has confirmed his ambitions will focus on the Grand Slams tournaments and playing for Serbia in the Davis Cup in what could be the final year of his career in 2025.
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