Bercy draw: Alcaraz with Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime, Nadal, Djokovic, Ruud and in the same game

Alea jacta is. In the presence of Richard Gasquet, invited by the tournament organization to compete in the main draw, but also to draw lots for the seeded players, the draw for the 2022 edition of the Rolex Paris Masters was unveiled on Friday evening. And one thing is certain, there will be no final between the two sacred monsters of the circuit, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in ten days.

The Serb and the Spaniard, both in the lower part, could however find themselves in the semi-finals. Note that the fight for any remaining places at the Masters will be concentrated in the upper part of Carlos Alcaraz with Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Félix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz.

Simon could say goodbye to Murray

For his first Masters 1000 as seeded number 1, Carlos Alcaraz will not have it easy, but he can congratulate himself on having avoided Novak Djokovic. If the Murcian has to face the Serb, it will only be in the final. Before that, he hopes to do better than last season when Hugo Gaston stopped him in the round of 16 in an atmosphere of madness. To do this, he will have to dismiss Aslan Karatsev or Yoshihito Nishioka, then probably Matteo Berrettini or Grigor Dimitrov. The following ? A possible quarter-final against a still dangerous Hubert Hurkacz indoors and a half against Daniil Medvedev.

But that’s all just guesswork, as the density of the array strikes when taking a step back. From the first round, some posters stand out: first, the clash of generations between Holger Rune (titled in Stockholm) and Stan Wawrinka, both in the quarter-finals in Basel. Then, the enticing contrasts of styles between Lorenzo Musetti and Marin Cilic, or even between Grigor Dimitrov and Botic van de Zandschulp. And what about the poster that could ratify Gilles Simon’s farewell to tennis: a potentially marathon and “vintage” 1st round against “Sir” Andy Murray.

And the other French in all this? Before potential reinforcements from qualifying, Adrian Mannarino and Arthur Rinderknech will have to pull out all the stops as soon as they enter the fray, respectively against Hurkacz and the young and dangerous Briton Jack Draper. Richard Gasquet, meanwhile, saw fate spare him relatively: against the Slovak Alex Molcan, he will have a 1st round within his reach and will then challenge Casper Ruud in the event of victory.

Thiem gives up his WC in qualifying

In addition, Dominic Thiem has given up his wild card for the qualifications which begin this Saturday at Bercy. The Austrian announced the end of his 2022 season after his elimination in the second round of the Vienna tournament against Daniil Medvedev. Ranked 352nd in June, the winner of the US Open 2020 rose to 108th place in the ATP rankings.

The potential round of 16 in the order of the table

Carlos Alcaraz – Matteo Berrettini
Hubert Hurkacz – Andrey Rublev
Daniil Medvedev – Frances Tiafoe
Taylor Fritz – Felix Auger

Novak Djokovic – Jannik Sinner
Marin Cilic – Casper Ruud
Stefanos Tsitsipas – Cameron Norrie
Pablo Carreno Busta-Rafael Nadal