The first part of 2024 provided some interesting verdicts in the men’s tour. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the landmarks of men’s tennis right now, while Novak Djokovic may have started his decline.
The Italian is the world’s number 1, he has improved a lot in the last nine months and won his first Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year. Jannik also won the Masters 1000 in Miami and another three titles in 2024 (Rotterdam and Halle). The Spaniard became the youngest player ever to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, also triumphing in the Indian Wells Mast
Djokovic and Medvedev have not yet won a title this year and seem to be inferior to the two young opponents. For the first time since 2005, Nole will enter the month of August without having yet won a title.
The 37-year-old from Belgrade reached the final at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, but was literally dominated by a huge version of Alcaraz. The 24-time Grand Slam champion did not make it to London in the best conditions due to knee surgery last month, which forced him to retire from the French Open before the quarterfinals.
During the press conference after the Wimbledon final, Novak admitted that he felt inferior to Alcaraz and Sinner at this time. The same goes for Medvedev, who used the precarious conditions of Sinner to prevail in the fifth set before being beaten by Alcaraz in the first semifinal.
The show continues
Meanwhile, the entry list of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, the tournament scheduled from August 12th to 19th on American hard court that precedes the last Slam of the year (US Open), has been made official. A list of the highest level, with all the big ones ready to fight to steal the scepter from Novak Djokovic, defending champion after the victory in last year’s spectacular final against Carlos Alcaraz.
The seeding will be led by current world number one Jannik Sinner. The two finalists from last year will also be present. Then there will be three other champions who have entered their name in the golden roll of the US tournament: Grigor Dimitrov (winner in 2017), Daniil Medvedev (2019) and Alexander Zverev (2021). Three Italians in the draw are added to Sinner: Lorenzo Musetti, Luciano Darderi and Matteo Arnaldi. There will be no Rafael Nadal, who unlike his compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta will not take advantage of the protected ranking.
Cincinnati entry list:
1. Jannik Sinner (Italy)
2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
3. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
4. Alexander Zverev (Germany)
5. Daniil Medvedev (Russia)
6. Alex de Minaur (Australia)
7. Hubert Hurkacz (Poland)
8. Andrey Rublev (Russia)
9. Casper Ruud (Norway)
10. Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
11. Taylor Fritz
12. Stefanos Tsitsipas
13. Tommy Paul
14. Ben Shelton
15. Ugo Humbert
16. Lorenzo Musetti
17. Holger Rune
18. Felix Auger-Aliassime
19. Sebastian Baez
20. Alejandro Tabilo
21. Karen Khachanov
22. Sebastian Korda
23. Nicolas Jarry
24. Alexander Bublik
25. Adrian Mannarino
26. Jack Draper
27. Tallon Griekspoor
28. Arthur Fils
29. Jiri Lehecka
30. Frances Tiafoe
31. Gael Monfils
32. Tomas Martin Etcheverry
33. Francisco Cerundolo
34. Zhizhen Zhang
35. Luciano Darderi
36. Mariano Navone
37. Jan-Lennard Struff
38. Tomas Machac
39. Matteo Arnaldi
40. Jordan Thompson
41. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
42. Cameron Norrie
43. Alexei Popyrin
18. Pablo Carreno Busta (PR)
ALTERNATES
1 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 44
2 Fabian Marozsan 45
3 Marcos Giron 46
4 Miomir Kecmanovic 47
5 Flavio Cobolli 48
6 Pedro Martinez 49
7 Sebastian Ofner 50
8 Nuno Borges 51
9 Lorenzo Sonego 52
Rafa is having fun
Rafa Nadal appears on the entry list of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season, which will take place in New York in late August. The Spaniard is having a great time this week on Bastad’s red clay: “I think we had some fun. It was an emotional match at the end, a good level of tennis against two good players,” said Rafa.
“We enjoy it, the crowd was amazing. Full crowd in a doubles match, that’s fantastic. Just enjoying every single day here.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion is playing doubles with Casper Ruud. “When you cannot win singles, you have to try to win doubles, it was not the best beginning of the day but very nice way to finish the day, winning again alongside Rafa was special,” Ruud explained. “We got a bit lucky but we’re looking forward to the next match.”
The former world number 1 will play singles and doubles at the Paris Olympics, hoping to win a medal for Spain. Rafa will play doubles alongside Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The presence of many players at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 will depend on their outcome at the Paris Olympics, which will take place on the red clay of the French Open later this month. Many tennis players could choose to skip the Masters 1000 in Montreal and play in Cincinnati to be ready for the US Open.
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