The Mutua Madrid Open draw ceremony was held on Monday afternoon, when a loaded top half resulted from the shuffle of names.
Jannik Sinner is the No. 1 seed with Novak Djokovic having withdrawn, but the draw did Sinner no favors because his side of the bracket is stacked. It also features Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Grigor Dimitrov. Ruud and Tsitsipas just faced each other in back-to-back clay-court finals in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, with Ruud triumphing at the latter on Sunday after Tsitsipas lifted the trophy at the former.
Sinner could face either Ruud or Dimitrov in the last eight. Medvedev and Tsitsipas are on a quarterfinal collision course, but Medvedev will likely run into Sebastian Korda in the third round and the American has given him all kinds of problems in the past. Tsitsipas can expect to see Dusan Lajovic on the other side of the net in his first match; that would be a rematch of the Barcelona semifinals.
At the bottom of the draw, Alcaraz returns from a right-arm injury after skipping both Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. The third-ranked Spaniard is the two-time defending champion in Madrid, but he obviously isn’t the favorite this time around given his health issues coinciding with Sinner’s rise. Alcaraz beat surprising finalist Jan-Lennard Struff for the 2023 title and the 20-year-old could meet the recent Munich champion in the fourth round of this tournament.
Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz, Holger Rune, and a struggling Andrey Rublev also find themselves in the bottom half of the bracket.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal’s comeback continues in the form of a first-round matchup with 16-year-old American Darwin Blanch. Nadal began his clay-court swing last week in Barcelona, where he defeated Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 before losing to Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-1. If the 37-year-old Spaniard beats Blanch, he will once again go up against De Minaur.
who ya got?
Intriguing draw. I love Madrid esp it’s over two weeks . It rewards the big hitters .
Loaded draw….too bad that Rafa has to face Demon again in 2nd round.
Tsitsipas wont play; needs a rest. He’s a chance of winning Roland Garros this year. Why would he risk it by over-scheduling.
The others probably cant beat a rested Sinner on this surface.
yep, Ruud and Tsitsi will lose early
Depends what you mean by early for them.
👍
If I was Tsitsipas I’d probably go straight to RG from Barcelona.
Players feel obligated to play because there are Masters events and ranking points, but really the end game for Tsitsipas is RG. Every player has different circumstances; some need to play more, some need to play less.
Actually, by ATP rules every top 32 player, unless injured, is obliged to play masters, except Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is the only non mandatory masters tournament for top 32.
Once players had played certain number of years (masters) they are not obliged to play them anymore nor they have to state why they don’t play them. Tsitsipas doesn’t fall yet into that category.
That’s interesting; I didn’t know that. I’m sure there are ways to get around it, like players have been doing over the years. And I doubt it’s as black and white as you’re saying; players are entitled to look after their health and schedule to give them the best chance at performing. Didn’t Djokovic just pull out of Madrid?
Djokovic is an exception
but yes, it’s not exactly difficult to make up an injury
Actually, the rules (rule book) is pretty black and white, but yes, the players can find the way around it:
“Under the 2009 rules of the ATP, players must provide official verification of injury or illness if they withdraw from a tournament within days of its start.”
This applies only for mandatory tournaments for top players (GSs, WTF and 8 masters tournaments).
ATP simply wants to ensure the tournaments have strong fields, it’s professional organisation and the players are basically their employees, money talks.
“Actually, the rules (rule book) is pretty black and white”
Are you a lawyer? Can you show me the clause?
Wouldn’t the 2024 rulebook be more appropriate??
and wouldn’t extreme fatigue that limits a player’s ability to perform at at sufficient level be good enough a reason.
You said its black and white. Please explain to me as a lawyer how its black and white.
Edit: “at a competitive level based on what one would reasonably expect them to play given their current form”
Right, so Djokovic doesn’t have to play because he’s played a certain amount of years. Gotcha.
Its happened where a player shows up to play first round and retires after a few minutes . Seemingly to work a loophole in the rules.
Exactly, or play one (two) rounds and pulls out of the next round due to “injury”.
Coming back to this issue, one shouldn’t be penalized for performing well. If you perform well, you should have more options available to you. That encourages players to perform well because it gives them options in terms of their schedule.
The whole system is broken; it penalises players for playing ATP 250/500 events and performing well.
You should have the option to play, but if they choose not to play for reasons such as fatigue, they shouldn’t be penalized in terms of ranking points (or fines) because they have earned that right.
Any individual sport puts terrific pressure on players and their bodies. If you have a minor injury and play, you are in danger of making it worse and being out, and not earning any money, for months.
Tennis seems to be stuck in the past and very reluctant to change and very resistant to players’ needs.
It’s a workplace agreement, as simple as that, they sign for it they have to respect it.
Nothing is stopping them to have an players Union independent from ATP (ATP controlled so called “player’s Cauncil”) that can negotiate different contracts….but they all love the money and are ready to bend over for it.
Last time the players were unified and actually boycotted one GS was Wimbledon 1973, those days are long gone, today’s players willingly went to submission to ATP rulers:
“….81 of Nikola Pilić’s fellow professionals, including 13 of the 16 seeds, withdrew from the 1973 Wimbledon Championships…”