The draw ceremony for the Mutua Madrid Open was held on Monday afternoon at the Caja Magic. With Carlos Alcaraz (wrist) out of the season’s second clay-court Masters 1000 tournament, Jannik Sinner is obviously an overwhelming title favorite. However, the road to the trophy is not an easy one for the world No. 1. Last week’s ATP 500 winners, Arthur Fils in Barcelona and Ben Shelton in Munich, are also in the top half of the Madrid Masters bracket.
Fils and Shelton are on a collision course for the round of 16, with the winner likely in line to meet Lorenzo Musetti in the quarters and Sinner in the semis. It is an absolutely loaded part of the draw. In fact, Shelton’s opening match could come against Matteo Berrettini; Fils will potentially go up against Monte-Carlo semifinalist Valentin Vacherot in round three.
Following a bye, Sinner awaits either a qualifier or a lucky loser. The Italian could face Tommy Paul in the last 16 and either Joao Fonseca, Alex de Minaur, or Barcelona runner-up Andrey Rublev in the QFs.
The bottom half is much softer on paper. Among the contenders to reach the final are Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, former runner-up Felix Auger-Aliassime (2024), and defending champion Casper Ruud. Medvedev has not yet won a game on this clay-court swing, as he got double-bageled 6-0, 6-0 by Berrettini at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
First-round matches to watch in Madrid are Berrettini vs. Raphael Collignon, Terence Atmane vs. Miomir Kecmanovic, Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alexander Blockx, and Fabian Marozsan vs. Ethan Quinn.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.