As if Rafael Nadal needed any help from the draw in order to enjoy smooth sailing at the French Open, that is exactly what he got on Thursday evening. Dominic Thiem, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, David Goffin, Stan Wawrinka, and Stefanos Tsitsipas all landed in the bottom half of the bracket with Alexander Zverev instead of in the top half with Nadal.
Zverev, Thiem, Nishikori, Wawrinka, and Tsitsiapas are all in the same quarter along with Lucas Pouille and 2017 Roland Garros fourth-round performer Karen Khachanov. Thiem could face Tsitsipas (second round) and Nishikori (fourth round) before even reaching the quarterfinals.
An absolutely loaded bottom half also includes Djokovic, who awaits a qualifier before possibly running into Spaniards David Ferrer in round two and Roberto Bautista Agut in the last 32. Goffin and fellow one-time French Open quarterfinalist Pablo Carreno Busta are also in the third section, as are Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios, Fernando Verdasco, and Gael Monfils. Verdasco ousted Zverev in last year’s first round.
Nadal, who opens with a rusty Alexander Dolgopolov, may not have anything remotely interesting on his plate en route to the semis aside from a possible fourth-round date with Denis Shapovalov.
Potential semifinal foes for the world No. 1 include Marin Cilic, Juan Martin Del Potro, John Isner, and Kyle Edmund. Cilic and Edmund are on a collision course for the last 16, although the Brit may have a difficult opener on his hands against Alex de Minaur.
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who ya got?
Ricky..If DElpo pulls out before 1st match..what will happen? Will lucky loser take his position or they will rework the draw?
rework
Khachanov will become seeded and LL will replace Khachanov
you mean everyone will get bumped up? They did not do that during USO when murray withdrew after draw?
so you mean djokovic can still land in rafas 3rd or 4th round?
Djokovic cannot change his spot
no, only the players on the fringe of a different draw group. So seeds 9, 17, 25 and the top unseeded player (33).
Why would Delpo pull out? He’s not injured to the extent that he couldn’t play, I don’t think so after a week’s rest. If he can’t play, he would have pulled out already.
So, Isner (9th seed) would replace Delpo in the draw, and Berdych (17th seed) would replace Isner; Mannarino (25th seed) would then replace Berdych, Khachanov (33rd seed) would replace Mannarino and LL would replace Khachanov, is that correct?
If that’s the case then not much difference to the draw as Delpo, Isner and Berdych are all in the same quarter; Mannarino would change from Cilic’s to Delpo’s/Isner’s quarter. Khachanov is the only one who would switch from one half of the draw to the next, into Cilic’s quarter from Sasha’s.
He had said after Rome his French participation was up in a quandary
But he’s still in the draw so I doubt he’s withdrawing at the last minute.
Feli Lopez will be into his 65th consecutive slam appearances at RG this year, wow, that’s impressive for longevity and fitness. Impressive, he ties Fed for the record, and if he does play at Wimbledon after the FO, he would break Fed’s record! Wow!
* by (the time he plays at) RG this year (not at RG when he didn’t play there 65 times!).
Should’nt the title be novak,thiem,zverev avoids nadal rather than the other way round.
Seriously! I doubt any of those guys wanted to be in Rafa’s half.
Thiem has Tsitsipas in R2, Thiem is not playing well and may be vulnerable.
I can see that one going 5 sets ,but maybe Thiems experience getting him through in the end
What’s Thiem thinking? He should be resting this week to prepare and get ready for the FO (he has SF points to defend, why’s he still playing a 250 event at Lyon this week? He’s asking for troubles; not looking good vs GGL in the QF there.
Brainless scheduling,not surprising coming from Thiem…
Btw,what do you think of Rafa’s draw? Thiem really got a brutal one!
Rafa’s draw is ok; I’m glad he has beaten all those guys at the other half of the draw during the warm ups so no one can doubt his ability and say he has a cakewalk draw. He has nothing to prove.
Looking at his half of the draw, he has the big hitting top ten guys (funny that all those he hadn’t met during the warm ups all landed in his half – Delpo, Cilic, Anderson, Isner). However, he needs to beat only two of them at the most. He has Foggy, Diego, Shapo in his draw but he won’t be meeting them till R4 onwards.
Rafa should be able to handle all those in his half of the draw to reach the final.
Yeah,it was a good thing avoiding the in form players on clay at the moment(Djoko,Nishi,Thiem).
Rafa can definitely handle the hard hitters on RG,plus I don’t think Anderson gonna meet him and Isner isn’t in great form,despite the fact that he has said that he really enjoys to play on RG. Probably he’ll get Cilic(I really hope he mets Rafa,he deserves a beatdown after the way he celebrated at the AO when Rafa retired) who’s surprisingly in good form this clay season.
Almost forgot to mention Delpo,but given that he was in doubt because of the groin injury he suffered in Rome and probably he’s not fully recovered,I don’t think he’ll be much a threat.
So,with the exception of Cilic,the only players that I can see troubling Rafa before the final are Coric/Schwartz,who can give him a grinding battle of hell and tire him a bit.
I thought shapo or sock qtrs n foggy Anderson or schwartz in qf right
I mean shapo or sock 4th round
Yeah,you’re right Sanju. Won’t be easy for Shapo to get to the 4R with his discontrolled agression. Also Coric has a decent shot to reach the QF.
It is impressive. The Bryan Brothers string is at 72, but Bob is injured so the string ends there. Mike’s going to partner with Sam Querrey for RG.
The main draw will start:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeDPIT9WsAA4fHK.jpg
Thanks augusta for the link!
Is Rafa in the top or bottom half of the draw?
Rafa is in top half Nny!…That means he will play sunday @ monday right?
Oh!My mistake!…Monday & tuesday i mean!Urgh!!Hehehe…
MA,
Thanks!
😀
Hehehe…You’re welcome Boss!!hehe…
Donald Trump is the greatest president in the history of our Nation… I cannot wait to look back in 20 years and say, wow, he was big league… Everyone will agree… Ricky is a bigly hater and the 10 people that read this will probably not agree with the Trump part, but then go, well Ricky is a hater he’s right.
Trump is a nice man. He is giving us extra tax refund for 2019
We have a non-tennis forum topic thread. Political comments belong there.
This should be about tennis, not propaganda for Trump.
Damn, RG just handed Nadal another RG title on a platter. That draw is ridiculous.
Thats more obious than the easy draws Fed gets at GS or when they put on a roof in the AO final.
Just proves its all about money, not about fair and equitable competition.
I’d want 20/1 for Zverez to win with that draw. Nadal should be 1.15-20 to win the title now.
Hi NNY. As the top seed Rafa plays in the top half, but his half was drawn to play second.
Ramara,
Thanks so much for that!
😀