The Roland-Garros sports draw has delivered its verdict. Rafael Nadal (276th), who could play his last fortnight at Porte d’Auteuil, inherited the German Alexander Zverev (4th in the world). The two men had already faced each other in the semi-finals on the Parisian ocher in 2022. Injured in the ankle, the German had to give up before the end of the second set while the two players had been facing each other for 3h13 of play.
Sinner and Alcaraz in the same half of the table
Title holder, Novak Djokovic, 1st in the world, will face Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert (143rd) in the first round. Another Frenchman involved, Gaël Monfils, 38th in the world, inherits the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (58th) and could find the Serb in the 3rd round. French number one, Ugo Humbert (17th) will face the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (50th).
This draw will offer possible quarter-finals between Djokovic and the Norwegian Casper Ruud (7th) for a remake of the 2023 final and between Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), semi-finalist last year, and the Russian Andrey Rublev (6th). In the last four, Djokovic could find Zverev. Jannik Sinner (2nd), who will challenge Christopher Eubanks for his entry into the running, could find the young Spaniard (21 years old) in the semi-finals, who will start against a qualifier.
Wawrinka-Murray, le choc « vintage »
Among the first rounds not lacking in pep, we will closely follow the clash between two natives of the 80s, namely Stan Wawrinka (39 years old, winner of the tournament in 2015) and Andy Murray (37 years old). Respectively 97th and 75th in the world, the two veterans will compete for the opportunity to then knock off the lowest seed, Cameron Norrie (No. 32) if the Briton defeats Pavel Kotov.
The French are not spoiled
Among the 16 French people admitted directly into the final draw, five inherited seeded positions. The prize for the most unlucky goes to Pierre-Hugues Herbert (33 years old, 143rd and beneficiary of a wild card), opposed to the title holder Novak Djokovic. Barely better off, Corentin Moutet (25 years old, 79th) will face the recent finalist of the Rome tournament, the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (16th), while Hugo Gaston (23 years old, 104th) will have to take out his armor against the American bomber Ben Shelton (15th). Classmates Arthur Cazaux (21 years old, 77th) and Harold Mayot (22 years old, 121st) will challenge respectively the 29th and 28th in the world, namely Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Sebastian Korda. It won’t be easy either for Gaël Monfils (37 years old, 38th), lacking rhythm since the start of the clay court season, if the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (58th) is as inspired as last year when he had eliminated Daniil Medvedev from the start, then a fresh winner in Rome.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (20 years old, 117th) can dream of a first victory at Roland against David Goffin (115th), who is no longer what he was, but the continuation against the winner of the expected clash between Nadal and Zverev would look more like a gala match than a formality. Arthur Rinderknech, Constant Lestienne, Luca Van Assche and Terrence Atmane will have a good card to play against the Australian wild card Adam Walton, the Spaniard Carballes Baena (before a possible second round against Djokovic), the inconsistent Denis Shapovalov or the Austrian Sebastian Ofner. Tough, tough for Richard Gasquet against Borna Coric before a potential second round against Jannik Sinner, seeded n°2.
Recent winner of Andrey Rublev in Rome, on the road to his round of 16, Alexandre Müller (27 years old, 90th) will remain in Italy against Luca Nardi, who stopped Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells. Finally, on the French seed side, if Adrian Mannarino is still in the unknown of a qualifier to hope to win his first match of the year on clay, the French n°1 Hugo Humbert, 13th in the world will meet the Italian Sonego who had clipped his wings in Monte-Carlo in the round of 16 (5-7, 6-3, 6-1) after his great victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
