By Chris Oddo | Thursday May 23, 2019
The draws are out and we’ve got two days before first ball on Sunday, so let the musing begin—here are five things we learned from tonight’s men’s singles draw at Roland Garros on Thursday.
Before we Begin, You can find the draw (sans qualifiers) here:
1. Novak Djokovic Drew Dominic Thiem, aka Short Straw, Into His Half
During the Roland Garros lead-up this week we were all wondering who would get stuck with Dominic Thiem in his half of the draw—Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. Now we know: The Austrian is in the top half and is Djokovic’s projected semi-final opponent.
Djokovic, it must be said, has the tougher draw than Nadal overall, as he faces Hubert Hurkacz in the first round, could face Jaume Munar or Gilles Simon in the third round, Borna Coric in the round of 16 and either Fabio Fognini, Roberto Bautista Agut or Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.
Still, it isn’t hard at all to imagine Djokovic coming out of the section and taking his place in the final alongside Nadal, but Djokovic might need a few more hours to accomplish that task if some of the seeded players in his section play to their potential. And then there's Thiem. If he ends up facing Djokovic in the semis in Paris, that will be a heavily anticipated battle and one that the pundits will surely see Thiem as having a chance in. After all, the Austrian owns two wins against Djokovic. Both came on clay and one came right here in Paris.
Nadal, meanwhile, opens with a qualifier in the first round before he faces the winner of another two qualifiers in the second round. He could face David Goffin in the third round and potentially Guido Pella or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the round of 16. His projected quarter-final match is No.7-seeded Kei Nishikori. There could be some challenges but Nadal's load seems like a lighter one than Djokovic’s.
Federer v Italy
Break out the Barilla.
Part-time gourmandise Roger Federer opens his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2015 and his 18th overall with first-round tilt with Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. The 24-year-old is not exactly a pushover especially on the red stuff. He earned his first Top 20 win en route to the qualifiers at Monte-Carlo this April and that was his second quarter-final on clay this season.
But the Italians are just getting started with Federer at this point. The Swiss, who faces a qualifier or Malek Jaziri in round two, could then face Matteo Berrettini and Marco Cecchinato back-to-back in the third and fourth rounds. If he survives, he'll surely need to put his Jura coffee machine to good use, because he'll need every ounce of energy he can get: Stefanos Tsitsipas could be waiting in the quarter-finals…
La Monf Has Room to Roam
This draw shapes up nicely for Gael Monfils. The Frenchman is 18-6 on the season and by and large playing some of the most consistent tennis of his career. He seemed to be struggling with an injury in Rome when he fell to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, but if he’s regained full health there isn't any reason why he can’t get through his first three rounds and into the second week. He’ll face Taro Daniel first, a qualifier or Adrian Mannarino second, and potentially Fernando Verdasco third.
Verdasco has won three straight against Monfils though, so this is not a cakewalk by any means for Monfils. And any tennis fan knows that even if it was a cakewalk, Monfis can make a cakewalk turn into a near-death free-fall off the side of a skyscraper faster than Mohamed Lahyani can make an ill-advised overrule. It's unlikely that Monfils will inspire the French faithful to consider the possibility of a hometown champion for the first time since 1984, but if he can lift spirits for the first 7-10 days of the tournament then we'll consider it a job well done.
Lopez v Karlovic: One for the Old School
How’s this for a first-round matchup? 40-year-old Ivo Karlovic v 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez? The pair have met 11 times and played 16 tiebreakers in those 11 contests, with Karlovic holding the 7-4 edge. It should be a fun one, in an antithesis-of-proper-clay-court-tennis way, and if you’re scoring at home this will be Lopez’s 69th consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearance, which is the all-time record (+3).
Enticing first-round matchups…
Among the top-10 seeds Djokovic v Hurkacz is potentially the most entertaining round one matchup. The Pole will certainly be up against it, but it should be enlightening to see what type of effort he can throw out there against the World No.1 on a giant stage. Hurkacz is in the midst of a breakout season that has seen him notch three Top 10 wins and rise to the cusp of the Top 40. He’s a promising player that will benefit from his first-round experience, win or lose.
Something like that is always worth tuning into...
Another popcorn first-rounder is Daniil Medvedev v Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The Frenchman is sure to be extra motivated, given that he’s playing at Roland Garros and there is also the fact that he is eschewing doubles for a spell in order to focus on his singles career. This is an important match for Hugues-Herbert and a chance to show what he can do against one of the tour’s rising forces in singles.
Denis Shapovalov v Jan-Lennard Struff also has the potential to be a great first-rounder. The German has been playing quite solidly this season, and Shapovalov is not exactly high on confidence, and thus, perhaps, prone for the upset.
Will also be watching these first-rounders on the men’s side:
Jeremy Chardy v Kyle Edmund
Fabio Fognini v Andreas Seppi
Roger Federer v Lorenzo Sonego
Nicolas Mahut v Marco Cecchinato
Grigor Dimitrov v Janko Tipsarevic
Cristian Garin v Reilly Opelka
Del Potro v Nicolas Jarry