The French Open draw ceremony delivered the most difficult potential paths to the the title for the top three favorites.
Thursday’s proceedings in Paris put Rafael Nadal with Novak Djokovic in a brutal top quarter of the bracket. As if that isn’t tough enough, Carlos Alcaraz is also in the top half.
Nadal left himself at the mercy of the draw after losing to Denis Shapovalov in the Rome third round last week. That result propelled Stefanos Tsitsipas past Nadal in the rankings, giving the 2021 French Open runner-up a top-four seed in Paris. Nadal fell into the 5-8 seeded group at No. 8, as we saw on Thursday that ended up costing him dearly. Of course, the 13-time Roland Garros champion’s ongoing foot injury was a big problem in Rome so it remains to be seen if he can even make a possible quarterfinal matchup with Djokovic become a reality.
Up first for Nadal is Jordan Thompson, while Felix Auger-Aliassime–who is coached by Toni Nadal–could be a fourth-round opponent.
Alcaraz may not like seeing Djokovic and Nadal in the same half, but he won’t be looking ahead just yet to a possible semifinal showdown against one of those two all-time greats. In round three the 19-year-old Spaniard could run into Sebastian Korda, the only player to beat him on clay this season. Alcaraz lost to Korda in Monte-Carlo before reeling off titles in Barcelona and Madrid. The world No. 6, who proceeded to withdraw from Rome, also lifted the Rio de Janeiro trophy earlier this year.
The bottom half, of course, is the place to be. It is shaping up nicely for Tsitsipas to make a return trip to the final, while Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner are also contenders. If Rublev and Sinner square off in the fourth round, the winner would be favored against anyone in the quarterfinals. It probably won’t be No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev, but rather Miomir Kecmanovic, Pablo Carreno Busta, or Marin Cilic.
Tsitsipas’ section is friendly as a whole, but the Greek has to go up against Lorenzo Musetti in round one.
welp
Welp indeed.
This is going to be an interesting tournament I hope N. Djokovic meets Alcaraz again 😂 it’s going to be a crazy match.
Novak Djokovic might win the French Open I’m rooting for him 💪👏
Terrible Draw.. Other half is a joke..Hope Rafa overcomes..
All I ask for is that Rafa’s doctor could do something to his troublesome foot so that he would last through his draw for as far as possible.
If his foot acts up, at least he wins his match and then withdraws, like in 2016. I don’t want to see him limping off a match when he loses.
The draw is a disgrace! So lopsided it’s a farce. The bottom half is a complete joke. It just could not have been worse for Rafa.
I am with Lucky. I truly hope that Rafa’s doctor can help him get as far as he can. Let him win the match and let him exit. I also do not want to see him limping off in terrible pain like in Rome.
Hi everyone!
Am back for RG. What an appalling draw for Rafa. And I didn’t know that he lost to Shaps because of foot pain.
If his foot is bad I don’t see how he can beat Novax in the quarters. It isn’t even about Novax, if he can’t move freely he may not get to the quarters.
So disappointing!
Does anyone know the details of how the foot flared up so badly? I have been completely out of the loop trying to get work done.
PS this draw is so farcical it makes one think that RG should seed like wimby used to.
Tsitsipas the favourite to reach the final? Maybe but it would be no shock to go out early he not the best mentally or tactically
Well his draw is a cake walk. However, he is not one to bet on too much. Could see him slipping up.
I actually think Alcaraz may feel the pressure and go out early.
Compared to the top half it is easy but some of the players are still very tricky.Sinner/Rublev?
Neither Sinner or Rublev are much of a problem in a slam.
Rublev regularly goes out early for one thing.
The draw is absurdly lopsided in a way that is bad for the tournament.
If alcaraz and Djoko meet experience will be the difference this time in such a big match
Agreed. If they meet Novax will win.
Sorry. Anon is me amy.
I really hope we are not going to see the same kind of lopsided draw at wimby.
However at wimby there will be no Med ( or Rublev)so Rafa may be seeded in top 4 even if he has a poor RG because of the foot.
Might grass be easier on Rafa’s foot? Rallies are much shorter for one thing. His knee, which used to be a problem on grass, doesn’t seem to be a problem now.
I know grass is bad because of the slipperiness. But there may well be a long period of dry fine weather which means the courts will be far less slippery and will favour rafa.
PS sorry if I sound very glum about rafa’s chances. I didn’t know until an hour ago that he lost to Shaps. Seeing that plus his horrible draw is not a barrel of laughs.
I really hope he can give it a go. But if his foot is bad ( meaning realistically he can’t win) then I don’t want to see him play Novax in the quarters.
Ok lot of gloom n doom here..please read all these links and calm urself what has to happen will happen . Everyone has written him off so it’s good
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527622312903725056
https://mobile.twitter.com/gigicat7_/status/1527637572498993154
https://mobile.twitter.com/carole_bouchard/status/1527622960982413312
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527625305334112257
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527622615262810112
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527623802477334534
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527634693180596224
https://mobile.twitter.com/Tennis_Majors/status/1527624877083090946
N lastly most important Mr Moya
https://mobile.twitter.com/RaphaelDabadie/status/1527597482334732288
I have digested all the bad news and am calm now.
What will be will be.
I haven’t read all those tweets yet sanju but I have thought about things and if his foot is ok then yes he can definitely win. Afterall, we know his foot was bad shortly before AO and he went expecting not to win. It seems to go on and off unexpectedly so he could well be ok.
I hope Novax gets over confident like in 2020 and Goran starts shooting his big mouth off again. Novaxx won Rome then while Rafa played awful so it’s definitely doable.
I think that having less pressure on him will help him mentally. No one is picking him to win which is actually good imo.
I looked at some weather forecasts. First week is unsettled but second is warm and fine. Good for rafa.
But Amy if Novak rafa qf happens they will make it night (:-
Yeah I did think that might happen sanju and that’s not good. But remember in 2020 it was cold and they played with the roof closed and rafa was brilliant!
The script can get flipped unexpectedly.
I think we need to stay calm… I still say that rafa being written off will help him.
Most Novak fans are giving him the title..ofcourse he is the fav n the betting sites say it too ..but surprising is few moronic fans of his think he won’t even get to play alcaraz or rafa
https://mobile.twitter.com/pavyg/status/1527582089251590146
Sanju I strongly recommend not looking at any tweets by Novax fans. Who cares what they think and say?!
You sound like a really bad person, a racist and a Nazi. First you talk disparagingly about Novak’s fans (as if we were a lower class) and then you talk against the Russians in the same way. Did you talk like that about the Americans when they bombed Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia? .. I guess not. Btw, I’m a big fan of Novak and I can’t wait to watch him live next week at Roland Garros. Have a nice evening.
You think Amy is a Nazi?!?!? LOL! Nor is she a “racist”. Do you even know the meaning of these terms? Or are you just hurling random insults? If she talks about Novak fans as if they were a lower class it’s because of the those who post idiocies like yours. Do have a nice day and tomorrow, why not try to learn a bit of history?
Obviously this particular Novak fan is quite ignorant when it comes to knowledge of Nazis or racists. People go after the Novak fans who invaded this forum last year after Novak beat Rafa at RG. Insulting Rafa and his fans and saying the most despicable things.
Now I would not call their behavior then as being Nazis or racists. I would call it boorish, disrespectful, classless and just plain stupid.
I would never even put myself in the position of reading tweets by Novak fans. Why go there? They always say the same things. It never changes. Nivsk won one tournament this year. Now he is talking himself up like he always does. His fans just follow suit.
I was looking for the piece about wimby banning Russian and Belarusian players.
Broadly speaking I support it. I haven’t watched any tennis for ages but I am extremely uncomfortable about tennis trying to pretend it is some kind of neutral space. Many other sports have come out very strongly. During the recent 6 nations rugby there were messages beamed everywhere in London, Cardiff, Rome, Dublin and Paris saying that each union strongly condemned Russia and stood with Ukraine. That’s damn well as it should be. Premier Football here has played a blinder so Russia had to block it so that it’s citizens couldn’t see the massive support for Ukraine.
Sport is not a neutral space. Fascist regimes adore it and Russia is unquestionably a fascist regime. About the only times Putin has appeared in public recently is at sports venues and with sporting figures. There is absolutely no way he should be allowed to levy some victory at wimby for his own advantage.
It really also might be nice ( sarcasm intended) if the Ukrainian players were centred in this rather than hearing about the Russian players and their opinions all the time. Many of the Ukrainian players have been absolutely scathing about their Russian compatriots saying they have said nothing to them and uttered no apology. That’s appalling imo.
I apologise repeatedly for things that my country has done even if I completely oppose those policies or wasn’t alive when they took place. As a citizen of this country they are still part of my history and my responsibility.
Generally speaking I am extremely unimpressed with the response of players as a whole and as far as I know only Murray and Fed have really spoken out. Murray is donating all his prize money to Ukraine and Fed has given 500k and said he and Mirka are horrified and heart broken. Andy has also tweeted repeatedly making very clear what he thinks.
Good for both of them but the rest need a long hard look in the mirror.
Sorry this is not the right thread but I couldn’t find the piece about wimby written a while back
I assume that “messages beamed everywhere in London, Cardiff, Rome, Dublin and Paris” also for Syria, Afganistan or Yugoslavia (or many others) before?
That is really a nice thing…
I agree that sport is not a ‘neutral space’ but imo the Wimbledon ban is still a bad decision that sets a terrible precedent.
To be clear, I have no issue with economic sanctions on Russia, tennis organisations speaking out against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, or not letting players compete under certain flag(s). But this is an individual sport where country is of secondary importance, and banning tennis players from competing at all means directly penalizing someone who does not deserve to be penalized.
The other thing is, that unlike economic sanctions, it doesn’t really apply pressure to Putin anyway, this idea is basically myth. He cares if there is access to finance, energy, raw materials, goods etc. He obviously loves Russian sporting success, but he’s not going to care about whether Daniil Medvedev competes at Wimbledon. Plus, Wimby could’ve just not let him compete under the Russian flag anyway, as other tournaments correctly decided! This is largely a decision about image – the Royals didn’t want to be seen presenting a trophy to someone Russian (unlikely anyway).
Now if you don’t agree with all that, consider the precedent. Imagine that Serena, Venus and Roddick are slam champions going for tennis records, but then the Iraq war happens (which the players are against) and is internationally condemned, and they can’t compete at slams (for how long? the whole duration of the war?). Is that the situation we should want in tennis? Various players being banned whenever illegitimate military actions arise? No, it is not. Frankly, it’s absurd. Players should not be directly punished for the actions of their government, and it’s even more crazy when they’re clearly against it.
Also, I support any Russian/Belarussian player who speaks out against the war, but it should be understood that players may not speak out because of an obvious risk of recriminations that could threaten their safety/their family’s safety.