Rolex Paris Masters 2024: Preview and analysis of the draw

Rolex Paris Masters 2024: Preview and analysis of the draw

Sinner and Alcaraz don’t have much to offer, but others do

The preview and analysis of the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters draw shows a dramatic power struggle for points just below the top seeds, including Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who they don’t need.

This Indoor Masters 1000 event represents an important opportunity for a certain top player to book a trip to the year-end ATP Finals in Turin. Sinner and Alcaraz, winners of the Grand Slams, are cemented.

In addition to their Grand Slam prize money, Sinner and Alcaraz recently starred in a record-breakingly lucrative show. Now they are on their way to ATP Finals riches. The rich are getting richer. In tennis, money buys fame, convenience, comfort, top rankings and generally more wins.

But what about the next stage? Players ranked near the top 8 could certainly use the money Torino is providing. With Novak Djokovic unsure whether he will play the ATP Finals, another spot in the top 8 could even be available. Defending champion Djokovic is also skipping the Paris Masters.

The Rolex Paris Masters awards 1,000 points to the winner of the tournament and 650 to the runner-up, with descending amounts of points awarded thereafter.

To preview and analyze the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters draw.

Sinner’s Quarter

With 64 players in the field, the draw is refined. Content matchups happen early. Ben Shelton takes on Felix Auger Aliassime in a first round selection competition. The winner plays Sinner. While Shelton has an outside chance with Turin, drawing second-round potential with Sinner is unfortunate.

In this section of the draw, the action gets even more exciting with Turin talents Holger Rune, Alex De Minaur and Taylor Fritz. Holger plays well indoors and won this tournament in 2022. He could finish off a exhausted Sinner. But I actually prefer Fritz to make it through the quarter. He has a favorable starting position for Turin, but a good run in Paris ruins it. Great waiters generally love indoor conditions where their punches are pure and pure.

Although Sinner defeated Fritz and won consecutive US Opens, the sets were of high quality. Their head-to-head score is 2-1 for the Italian. I’m basing this choice solely on the fact that Sinner, who just won $6 million, has very little to play for at this point.

Rolex Paris Masters draw preview and analysis: Zverev quarters

Alexander Zverev played solidly despite a lung disease. With over 6,000 points and a third place finish in the race, he secured a ticket to the ATP Finals. He could probably need some time to recover. Remember, most of the players were after a long year traveling around Asia, battling both jet lag and their opponents in the fall points hunt. I like that hometown boy Arthur Fils upsets Zverev in this section. But Andrey Rublev is my favorite for this district because he loves indoor hard courts and has everything to play for.

Rublev is 8th in the race and needs the points to reach Turin and put a positive spin on a subpar, emotionally draining year. A pair of one-handed backhanders, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti, are unlikely to be able to beat Rublev here for different reasons.

Medvedev district

There are some quality first round games in this area of ​​the draw. Circle the tilt between Alexei Popyrin and Matteo Berrettini. Both players are fighting to position themselves at the Australian Open. Matteo could use a seed, and Alexei could use a high seed on his home slam.

Francis Tiafoe and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard should ensure an exciting game. They’ve never played before and I can’t wait to see Foe’s face as he tries to return that serve. Still, I think the one-handed backhand will provide just enough of a liability on this surface to give Francis the advantage. He has a lot of experience working indoors and loves it.

Daniil Medvedev, seeded 4th, continues to compete against Sinner and Alcaraz. Aside from these two opponents, he has generally played well. The jury is still out on Meddy’s incentives. He is already qualified for Turin.

At the top of this quarter is Grigor Dimitrov, who may have the most to gain. Grigor is ranked 10th in the race. He is playing exceptionally well on this court, having made it to the final last year where he lost to Djokovic. His head-to-head against Medvedev is 3-8, but one of those three wins came here at the Paris Masters. I’ll give Grigor a slight nod. As you can see, incentives play a big role in my fall analysis. Why? These guys are people, not robots.

Rolex Paris Masters 2024 draw preview and analysis: Alcaraz district

Easy drawing. The Spaniard has been traveling all over the world lately and deserves this great walk. Ugo Humbert, Tommy Paul and Casper Ruud are the other seeded players in this quarter.

Let’s break it down. Ruud doesn’t play well in these conditions. His career record here is 3-5. Tommy Paul, who recently won in Stockholm, is tired and probably ready to catch a cold and head back to the States. Alcaraz has a 2-0 record against Humbert and beat him badly on indoor hard courts earlier this year. Other unseeded players such as Flavio Cobolli were injured. This should be easy for Carlos until the semi-finals, where things get much more difficult.

My players to watch:
QF: Fritz, Rublev, Dimitrov, Alcaraz
SF: Fritz, Alcaraz
Q: Alcaraz