Scouting Report
Sinner and Alcaraz go for more glory in Paris, the places for Turin are defined
A summary of what every fan should know about next week
October 27, 2024
Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
By ATP Editorial Board
The Rolex Paris Masters, the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season, is here. There are plenty of stories to follow, from Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz seeking their first tournament glory to the intense PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.
ATPTour.com reviews 10 things to see in Bercy.
1) Who will qualify for Turin? Four individual spots remain at the Nitto ATP Finals, with Sinner, Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev already guaranteed in the season-ending event. Who will join them? Taylor Fritz, who reached the semifinals in his debut in 2022, will try to return to the Inalpi Arena. The American is fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. Among those who will compete in Paris are Casper Ruud (3,845 points), seventh, Andrey Rublev (3,720) and Alex de Minaur (3,555), who are fighting for their positions.
2) Sinner top seed: The Italian has already taken the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF. The 23-year-old has won seven tour titles this year and will try to win his eighth this week in Paris. He has posted a 1-2 record in the tournament, including a loss to Alcaraz in his debut in 2021. Sinner will begin his event against Ben Shelton or a lucky qualifier/loser.
3) Alcaraz’s push in Paris: Two years ago, Alcaraz obtained his best result at the Rolex Paris Masters, reaching the quarterfinals. Can you advance further in this edition? The Spaniard, seeded second, will face Nicolas Jarry or a player from the qualifying phase or a lucky loser in his opening match. Alcaraz has won four titles this year, the last in Beijing.
4) Fils and Humbert fly with France: #NextGenATP star Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert, who are good friends, recently played a French final in Tokyo, which Fils won. Will one of the local favorites manage to do well in Bercy? Fils, who played his first ATP Tour main draw at this event two years ago, will face former world No. 3 Marin Cilic in the first round. Humbert, who will try to take advantage of his great left-handed serve indoors, is the 15th seed and will face Brandon Nakashima.
Watch the Highlights of the Tokyo final:
5) Former champions Medvedev, Rune and Khachanov: Medvedev (2020), Holger Rune (2022) and Karen Khachanov (2018) are former Rolex Paris Masters champions. Medvedev, seeded fourth, will face former Top 10 Matteo Berrettini or Montreal champion Alexei Popyrin. Rune, seeded thirteenth, will debut against Matteo Arnaldi and Khachanov, fresh from the final in Vienna, will play against Pablo Carreño Busta. Khachanov leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 6-3.
6) French guests: The wild cards in the singles draw are Richard Gasquet, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Adrian Mannarino and Arthur Rinderknech. Gasquet will compete at the Rolex Paris Masters for the last time before his retirement at Roland Garros 2025. The former No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings has competed 16 times in this event. The rise of Mpetshi Perricard has been one of the stories of 2024, with his enormous serve stunting all styles of opponents.
7) Draper resurge: A year ago, Jack Draper was No. 91 in the PIF ATP Rankings, forcing him to compete in an ATP Challenger Tour event instead of in Paris. Now he reaches the last Masters 1000 of the season in 15th place in the PIF ATP Live Ranking and after a victory at the ATP 500 in Vienna. The southpaw faces Jiri Lehecka in the first round.
8) Zverev seeks another title: Zverev has already won a Masters 1000 this season in Rome. Six-time Masters 1000 champion in total, the German will try to add a Paris trophy to his resume. The third seed reached the final at Bercy in 2020. He faces either Luciano Darderi or Tallon Griekspoor in his opening match.
9) At stake are the doubles places for Turin: Four doubles pairs have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals: Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos, Marcelo Arévalo/Mate Pavic, Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori and Max Purcell/Jordan Thompson. Who will accompany you in Turin? Two Grand Slam champions in 2024, Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden and Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten are in good position. Wesley Koolhof/Nikola Mektic are fifth in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz are seventh.
10) Granollers/Zeballos first seeds, along with individual stars playing doubles: Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the first seeds in the doubles table and Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavic are the second seeds. In doubles there will also be many individual stars to watch. Fritz will compete with Ben Shelton, Ruud with Tomas Machac and Fils with Mpetshi Perricard, among others.
Source: https://www.atptour.com/es/news/paris-2024-scouting-report
