The Western & Southern Open draw ceremony took place on Friday and it did not do any favors for Novak Djokovic as the world No. 2 returns to action for the first time since losing the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic finds himself in an absolutely loaded bottom half of the bracket that also includes world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev and current Toronto semifinalist Jannik Sinner. Of course, the 36-year-old Serb won’t even get caught looking ahead to potential showdowns with Sinner in the quarters and Medvedev in the semis. That’s because Toronto semifinalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is a possible opening opponent for Djokovic and the No. 2 seed could meet current Toronto finalist finalist Alex de Minaur in the third round.
Also on Djokovic’s side are Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, and Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz, who was upset by Tommy Paul in the Toronto quarterfinals, should have a good chance to rebound at the Cincinnati Masters. The 20-year-old Spaniard may be able to get a shot at revenge against Paul in the round of 16, while a struggling Casper Ruud is the other top-eight seed in that section of the draw. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are possible semifinal foes for Alcaraz.
First-round matchups to watch this coming week are Zverev vs. Grigor Dimitrov, Paul vs. Miomir Kecmanovic, Fritz vs. Jiri Lechecka, Cameron Norrie vs. Gael Monfils, Chris Eubanks vs. Ben Shelton, and Stan Wawrinka vs. Kei Nishikori.
Cincinnati PDF draw on the ATP website
[yop_poll id=”474″]
who ya got?
It might be worthwhile mentioning the calendar dates in your tournament previews, so people don’t have to look to see when the event actually starts.
Its usually the same day, or day after . The draw never comes out much earlier than a few days before tournament starts.
Tough first round for Griekspoor and Tiafoe
Upset alert for Foe.
And a bit about history, last year’s winner, ranking points, who has more to play for etc. Do a proper analysis.
Its all there if you look hard enough.EG Tournament previews
Court speed. Who it will favour Who has won it the most. What the players will be thinking heading into to the USO.
Take pride in your work.