ATP Roland Garros - DRAW: Rafael Nadal to face Roger Federer or Tsitsipas
The second Grand Slam of the season will kick off on Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris, with almost every player from the top-50 entering the draw and chasing the big title and 2000 points. Kevin Anderson, John Isner and Milos Raonic will not compete in Paris but all the other main protagonists on the men's tennis scene are ready to rumble on dirt and seek glory, including Djokovic, Nadal, Thiem and Federer. World no. 1 and the winner of last three Grand Slam titles Novak Djokovic battles for the second "Novak Slam" after the first one he achieved here in Paris in 2016, opening the campaign against the young Pole Hubert Hurkacz.
In the next three rounds, Novak has to beat Sam Querrey, Jaume Munar, Gilles Simon, Denis Ahapovalov, Jan-Lennard Struff, Radu Albot, Lloyd Harris, Aljaz Bedene or the 13th seed Borna Coric to reach the quarter-final, with the young Croat standing as the hardest obstacle for the Serb en route to the last eight appearance. The 9th seed and Monte Carlo champion Fabio Fognini could face the struggling 5th seed Alexander Zverev in the fourth round, only if they overpower Andreas Seppi, Federico Delbonis, Taylor Fritz, Bernard Tomic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Steve Johnson, Dusan Lajovic, Cameron Norrie, Nick Kyrgios and John Millman.
In the second quarter, the last year's finalist Dominic Thiem has a decent draw, with Gael Monfils and Fernando Verdasco as his most serious rivals before the quarters. Juan Martin del Potro, the last year's semi-finalist, leads the second part of the second quarter and he could face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round before Karen Khachanov or Lucas Pouille and that potential Dominic Thiem clash. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Roger Federer couldn't play against each other in Rome since Roger was forced to withdraw and they set another encounter in Paris in the third quarter.
The Greek and the Swiss have to pass the names like Frances Tiafoe, Filip Krajinovic, Stan Wawrinka, Reilly Opelka, Christian Garin, Janko Tipsarevic, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Marco Cecchinato, Diego Schwartzman and Matteo Berrettini before that blockbuster duel for the place in the semis. Roger is playing in Paris for the first time since 2015, facing Lorenzo Sonego, Malek Jaziri or a qualifier in the first two rounds. In the bottom quarter, the 2nd seed and the 11-time champion Rafael Nadal has a beautiful draw, with Kei Nishikori, Daniil Medvedev, Guido Pella and David Goffin on the list of the players to topple en route to the place in the semi-final.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VZmAih
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