The Rolex Paris Masters is upon us, that means that is the top of the street within the 2024 tennis season for an entire host of gamers. Following this Masters 1000 occasion, there’s nothing greater than a pair of 250s on the ATP schedule upfront of the Nitto ATP Finals. The latter, after all, is just for the highest eight.
Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Paris Masters, nearly everybody else of observe is taking the courtroom. Listed here are my preview and picks for the second-to-last week of the common season.
Rolex Paris Masters The place: Paris, France Prize cash: 5,950,575 Euros Prime seed: Jannik Sinner 2024 champion: Novak Djokovic (not enjoying)
Jannik Sinner has reached the ultimate at 4 consecutive tournaments heading into Paris. Now the Italian tries to place an exclamation level on an unbelievable 12 months wherein he has already clinched the No. 1 spot. Regardless of being the highest seed this week, Sinner’s draw just isn’t pleasant. He might must defeat Ben Shelton, 2022 Paris winner Holger Rune, and both Taylor Fritz or Alex de Minaur previous to the semis.
Rublev, who additionally finds himself within the high half of the bracket, is clinging to the eighth and remaining spot within the race to Turin. He’ll face Francisco Cerundolo in spherical two earlier than presumably operating into Stefanos Tsitsipas within the third spherical and Alexander Zverev within the final eight. Tsitsipas must take the Paris title in an effort to transfer into qualifying place for the year-end championship.
Within the backside half of the draw, Alcaraz has a principally favorable path. Tommy Paul has already vacated Alcaraz’s part with a loss to Adrian Mannarino. The reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion might meet Turin hopeful Casper Ruud within the quarters. Potential SF opponents for Alcaraz are Daniil Medvedev, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Machac, Matteo Berrettini, and Basel champ Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Tiafoe and Mpetshi Perricard will go head-to-head within the opening spherical. Different first-round matchups to observe are Berrettini vs. Alexei Popyrin, Hubert Hurkacz vs. Alex Michelsen, and Jack Draper vs. Jiri Lechecka.
Quarterfinal picks: Jannik Sinner over Taylor Fritz, Arthur Fils over Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev over Tomas Machac, and Tommy Paul over Carlos Alcaraz
Semifinals: Sinner over Fils and Medvedev over Paul
Ultimate: Sinner over Medvedev
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and likewise maintains his personal tennis web site, The Grandstand. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
