French Open draws: Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu handed tough paths
Jack Draper will have to navigate a challenging draw at the French Open to consolidate his breakthrough clay court season with a deep run at Roland Garros, where he still seeks his first career win.
Draper, the fifth seed, will begin against the Italian left-hander and fellow 23-year-old Mattia Bellucci, who is ranked No 68. Draper has been drawn in Jannik Sinner’s quarter and a career best run in Paris could culminate in a quarter-final match with the top seed.
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Draper has made dramatic strides on clay in the last month, a surface on which he previously had minimal experience at the highest level. At the Madrid Open, a Masters 1000 tournament, he made his first tour-level final on the surface, losing to Casper Ruud, before an impressive quarter-final run in slower conditions at the Italian Open in Rome. He has only competed at Roland Garros twice. After being forced to retire from his first round match in 2023, an injury that would also keep him out of action at Wimbledon, he lost in the first round last year.
Emma Raducanu, meanwhile, will attempt to consolidate her positive form on clay at Roland Garros as she faces the No 42, Xinyu Wang, of China in the first round. Should Raducanu win, she will probably face the three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek in round two.
After making notable progress on clay over the past few weeks, Raducanu suffered an injury scare on Wednesday in Strasbourg. She opened her tournament with an excellent win over No 17, Daria Kasatkina, her first top 20 win on clay, before struggling with back spasms in her three set loss to Danielle Collins. On Thursday, Raducanu’s team said she was on her way to Paris and in good shape for the second grand slam tournament of the year.
Elsewhere, Sinner will start in Roland Garros, his second tournament since returning from his three-month anti-doping ban, against Arthur Rinderknech of France. Novak Djokovic, seeded seventh, will face Mackenzie McDonald of the United States in the first round as he tries to breathe life into his season after a difficult period.
Djokovic, who turned 38 on Thursday, has landed in Sinner’s top half and he could face Alexander Zverev, the third seed, in the quarter-final if he can find his form in Paris. In the bottom half, Carlos Alcaraz will begin his title defence against the veteran former No 4 Kei Nishikori, a three-time quarter-finalist at Roland Garros.
The biggest question in either draw on Thursday was the placement of Swiatek ahead of her attempt to win a record fourth consecutive French Open title, and fifth overall, at the end of her most challenging clay court season since she first reached No 1. She has been handed an extremely difficult draw as she tried to pull off an astounding feat. No woman has won four consecutive French Open titles in the open era.
Swiatek has not won a title since her triumph at the French Open last year and after losing in the third round of the Italian Open, she fell to No 5 in the WTA rankings, meaning she could have been drawn against Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff as early as the quarter-final stage. She is instead projected to face Jasmine Paolini, the fourth seed and recent Italian Open champion, in the quarter-finals with a potential semi-final match with Sabalenka looming if both women make deep runs in the draw.
Sabalenka, the top seed, will open her tournament against Kamilla Rakhimova. The bottom half of the women’s draw is headed by Coco Gauff, a finalist in Madrid and Rome, who will begin her tournament against Australia’s Olivia Gadecki.
There will be numerous British players in action at Roland Garros. Katie Boulter will face a qualifier as she seeks her first main draw in Paris. Jodie Burrage will tackle the in-form Collins and Sonay Kartal will play Erika Andreeva. Jacob Fearnley, the British No 2, will make his French Open debut against the 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka and Cameron Norrie faces a tough first round match against Daniil Medvedev, the 10th seed.
