Paris (AFP)
Will Roger Federer play the Masters 1000 in Paris next week? Tournament director Guy Forget "keeps hope" and "remains optimistic", he said after the draw which reserved a possible semifinal between the Swiss and Rafael Nadal Friday night.
Nadal, who has not been seen on the circuit since his coronation at the US Open in early September (excluding the Laver Cup), and Novak Djokovic, in the fight for the place of N.1 worldwide at the end of the season, have they have already set their bags in Paris.
But as often, uncertainty still hangs over the arrival of Federer, in the last square in Basel, his hometown, and who, on several occasions in the past, preferred to save for the end of year Masters at the expense of the Paris tournament.
"For now, Roger has lost six games in Basel, he qualified (for the semifinals) without playing against Stan Wawrinka (package), we can think, if we want to see the glass half full, "He is not too tired, I have hope, we often had Sunday evening (on the eve of the Paris tournament, ed) news unfortunately a little sad, but we will remain optimistic," said Forget.
A year ago, the Swiss twenty-one record Grand Slam champions replayed in Paris for the first time since 2015. Since then, he has also made his comeback at Roland-Garros last spring.
The draw placed Federer and Nadal in the same half of the table, and Djokovic and the player in form of the last few months, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, in the other. The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas could however stand on the road of the Serb in the previous round.
The French will have a lot to do overall. Gael Monfils, the highest ranked, still in the race to win the Masters, or Benoît Paire, may have to challenge Federer in the round of 16. Even earlier, Richard Gasquet, if he dismisses Serbian Dusan Lajovic, will be the first opponent of Djokovic, and Adrian Mannarino that of Nadal, provided to get rid of a qualified first.
Two of them will start with a duel with players of the new generation: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be opposed to the Russian Andrey Rublev, and Gilles Simon to the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
© 2019 AFP