The Rolex Paris Masters is upon us, which means the season is wrapping up for a whole host of players on the ATP Tour. After this Masters 1000 tournament, there are only a pair of 250s on the schedule (Metz and Sofia) followed by the Nitto ATP Finals for the top eight.
Unsurprisingly, every one of the top 17 players in the world and 31 of the top 32 are taking the court in Paris as they try to close out their 2023 campaigns in style. Both No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz are back in action; Djokovic has played just one match since the U.S. Open and Alcaraz skipped Basel this past week due to injury.
Will either Djokovic or Alcaraz carry momentum into Turin in the form of a title in Paris, or are some upsets in the cards? Let’s take a look at what could be in store for the Paris Masters.
Rolex Paris Masters
Where: Paris, France
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 1000
Prize money: 6,748,335 Euros
Top seed: Novak Djokovic
Defending champion: Holger Rune
Djokovic has a nice draw as he looks to get his game back in shape in time for the Nitto ATP Finals. Daniil Medvedev is in the other half of the bracket along with Alcaraz, as are Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Hubert Hurkacz–the most recent Masters 1000 champion (Shanghai). Djokovic will get his week started against either Tomas Martin Etcheverry or fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic. Ben Shelton is Djokovic’s nearest seed, but Shelton has played a lot of matches this fall and admitted on social media that he is starting to feel it. Holger Rune and Taylor Fritz are possible quarterfinal opponents for the top-seeded Serb and neither is in good form right now.
The other section in the top half features Vienna champion Jannik Sinner and Vienna semifinalist Andrey Rublev. Both are already on their way to Turin for the year-end championship. Among the unseeded floaters, Adrian Mannarino is one to watch in front of the home crowd in this quarter.
At the bottom of the draw, Alcaraz could face Karen Khachanov in the last 16 and either Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Ugo Humbert, or Basel winner Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals. Medvedev awaits the winner of Grigor Dimitrov vs. Lorenzo Musetti for his opening match (just as he did in his Vienna) before possible dates with Tiafoe in the third round and Hurkacz, Casper Ruud, Sebastian Korda, or Gael Monfils in the quarters.
Marquee first-round matches are Dimitrov vs. Musetti, Hurkacz vs. Korda, Shelton vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Tiafoe vs. Alexander Bublik, and Alex de Minaur vs. Andy Murray.
Hot: Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz, Ben Shelton, Adrian Mannarino, Arthur Fils, Grigor Dimitrov, Ugo Humbert
Cold: Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Frances Tiafoe, Dominic Thiem, Botic van de Zandschulp, Richard Gasquet, Roberto Bautista Agut,
Quarterfinal predictions: Novak Djokovic over Arthur Fils, Jannik Sinner over Tommy Paul, Daniil Medvedev vs. Gael Monfils, Ugo Humbert over Karen Khachanov
Semifinals: Sinner over Djokovic and Medvedev over Humbert
Final: Sinner over Medvedev
Hard to win back to back tournaments unless you are the big 3 or Alcaraz.
Sinner and Med were both really feeling it physically in the last set. Med usually is better going deep after winning isn’t he?
I thought Sinner looked very good. Cahill seems to have added another dimension to his game. Meanwhile Med doesn’t really seem to have added much to his game and is very stubborn with court position.
Who is making the tour finals? 4 players have a shot. Rune, the Cart Horse, Hubie and Ruud with around 400 points separating them in the order I came up with. Hoping Hubie can get there but don’t suppose he will..
Hard to bet against either Sinner or Medvedev. Yes, Joker is in the draw but he’s rusty…same for Carlos…Zv could also get to Semis or Finals.