Ricky’s picks for the Rolex Paris Masters

The Rolex Paris Masters is upon us, meaning this is the end of the road in the 2024 tennis season for a whole host of players. Following this Masters 1000 event, there is nothing more than a pair of 250s on the ATP schedule in advance of the Nitto ATP Finals. The latter, of course, is only for the top eight.

Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Paris Masters, almost everyone else of note is taking the court. Here are my preview and picks for the second-to-last week of the regular season.

Rolex Paris Masters
 
Where: Paris, France 
Prize money: 5,950,575 Euros 
Top seed: Jannik Sinner 
2024 champion: Novak Djokovic (not playing) 

Jannik Sinner has reached the final at four consecutive tournaments heading into Paris. Now the Italian tries to put an exclamation point on an unbelievable year in which he has already clinched the No. 1 spot. Despite being the top seed this week, Sinner’s draw is not friendly. He may have to defeat Ben Shelton, 2022 Paris winner Holger Rune, and either Taylor Fritz or Alex de Minaur prior to the semis.

Rublev, who also finds himself in the top half of the bracket, is clinging to the eighth and final spot in the race to Turin. He will face Francisco Cerundolo in round two before possibly running into Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round and Alexander Zverev in the last eight. Tsitsipas would have to take the Paris title in order to move into qualifying position for the year-end championship. 

In the bottom half of the draw, Alcaraz has a mostly favorable path. Tommy Paul has already vacated Alcaraz’s section with a loss to Adrian Mannarino. The reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion could meet Turin hopeful Casper Ruud in the quarters. Potential SF opponents for Alcaraz are Daniil Medvedev, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Machac, Matteo Berrettini, and Basel champ Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. 

Tiafoe and Mpetshi Perricard will go head-to-head in the opening round. Other first-round matchups to watch are Berrettini vs. Alexei Popyrin, Hubert Hurkacz vs. Alex Michelsen, and Jack Draper vs. Jiri Lechecka. 

 Quarterfinal picks: Jannik Sinner over Taylor Fritz, Arthur Fils over Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev over Tomas Machac, and Tommy Paul over Carlos Alcaraz 

Semifinals: Sinner over Fils and Medvedev over Paul 

Final: Sinner over Medvedev 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.