It was a little different from the others, not only because it was done by Richard Gasquet, the beneficiary of the wild card, for him it will be the last time to participate since he announced last week that he will retire in eight. months, at the end of Roland-Garros 2025. Organized at the Too Hotel, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, an institution whose interior architecture was entrusted to Philippe Starck, this painting was responsible for painting the final table that occupies the Palais. omnisports de Paris-Bercy, also called Accor Arena. Next year, after 38 years in eastern Paris, the Rolex Paris Masters will have moved to Nanterre, at the Paris La Défense Arena.
Until then, there will be the last Masters 1000 to be played in this room where the first winner, in 1986, is called Boris Becker and whose owner, Novak Djokovic, is absent this year, having chosen to retire. Without Serbia, the 4th country is the real boss of the place with seven titles won between 2009 and 2023, one of the difficulties of the drawing was to know who, Alexander Zverev (3rd) or Daniil Medvedev (5) will find himself in half of the table for Jannik Sinner (world No. 1) and not for Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2). So Zverev adopted Italian, in the upper half where there are also many players like Holger Rune (against Sinful in the round of 16), Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Jannik Sinner is “well” around
Among the surprises of the first round, a strong competition between Ben Shelton and Félix Auger-Aliassime, the winner of which will challenge the Sinner, who is well rounded. Also check out Jack Draper – Jiri Lehecka (still at the top of the table) and relief Alexei Popyrin – Matteo Berrettini (this time at the bottom).
On the French side, where Ugo Humbert (16th) and Arthur Fils (20th) directly entered the final draw, there are six on the starting line, thanks to the invitation of the FFT. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (50th), Adrian Mannarino (57th), Arthur Rinderknech (61st, who got a wild card from Gaël Monfils, who was sick) and Richard Gasquet (133rd) are all found at the bottom of the table. Gasquet will undoubtedly have a chance against the Italian Flavio Cobolli (31st ATP but new at this level), and it will be difficult for Rinderknech (Tomas Machac, 27th), Mannarino (Tommy Paul, 12th) and Mpetshi (Frances Tiafoe , 15th).
Arthur Single French child on land
Ugo Humbert finds himself in the bottom half again and will face American Brandon Nakashima (38th) in the first round. So Artur Fils will find himself in the Blue upfield, where he will start against former world No. Basel, where he will face Ben Shelton on Saturday in the semi-finals. The young Frenchman could face Lorenzo Musetti (17th) in the second row, if the Italian gets rid of the German Jan Lennard Struff. In the event of a match, Zverev will likely stand between himself and a potential quarter-finalist.
Six French players will set their qualifications on Saturday to try to boost the blue team: Alexandre Müller (68), Corentin Moutet (70), Hugo Gaston (73), Arthur Cazaux (80), Quentin Halys (90) and Harold Mayot ( 106 and).