Djokovic Down For Double Duty In Paris
Novak Djokovic will make the most of his long-awaited return to the ATP Tour next week, signing up for singles and doubles duty at the Rolex Paris Masters.
The five-time champion in Paris/Bercy will play his first tournament since falling to Daniil Medvedev in the final of the US Open, a defeat that cost the Serb the chance to complete the Grand Slam. Djokovic has also signed up to play doubles for just the third time this season (ATP Cup, Mallorca) and will team with countryman Filip Krajinovic.
With Saturday’s draw, Djokovic learned that his opening match will be against Fabio Fognini (whom he leads 8-0 in their ATP Head2Head series) or Marton Fucsovics (3-0). He could meet Gael Monfils (17-0) in the third round.
With the FedEx ATP Race To Turin reaching the home stretch, Jannik Sinner will look to continue his bid to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Paris, where he will start against #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz or French wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Sinner boosted his chances to secure a place at the season finale when he defeated fellow Turin contender Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals in Vienna as he aims to make his debut at the event. Ruud remains well-positioned, though, and begins against Alexander Bublik or Brit Daniel Evans.
View Rolex Paris Masters Draw
Hubert Hurkacz, Cameron Norrie and Felix Auger-Aliassime are 10th, 11th and 12th respectively in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin standings and all three will be targeting deep runs in Paris. Hurkacz opens against Jan-Lennard Struff or a qualifier and could meet Auger-Aliassime in the last 16, but the Canadian faces a difficult second-round prospect against former champion Andy Murray, who has received a wild card.
Norrie captured his maiden Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells earlier this month and plays Argentine Federico Delbonis in his opening clash in what will be their first meeting.
[FOLLOW ACTION]Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is a potential semi-final opponent for Djokovic and he begins against either South African Lloyd Harris or 22-year-old Alex de Minaur in what will be a difficult test. It will be the Greek’s fourth appearance in Paris, with his best performance a run to the quarter-finals in 2019.
In the bottom half of the draw, reigning champion Medvedev will get his title defence underway against Winston-Salem winner Ilya Ivashka or Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The Russian, who will be aiming to bounce back from his fourth-round defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in Indian Wells, is seeded to meet countryman Aslan Karatsev in the last 16.