World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic were drawn in the same half of the French Open Men’s Singles draw on Thursday.
The Spaniard, who has captured three trophies on clay this season, could face third seed Djokovic in the semi-finals, with 2021 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas drawn in the 20-year-old quarter.
Alcaraz is making his third appearance at a clay-court Grand Slam, having advanced to the quarterfinals in 2022. Will open against the top seeded qualifier and is seeded to play 14th seed Cameron Norrie in the fourth round.
Fifth seed Tsitsipas, who is in the same class as Felix Auger-Aliassime, is a likely quarter-final opponent for Alcaraz.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Italian Lorenzo Musetti are also in the top quarter of the draw. Shapovalov is a potential third-round opponent for Alcaraz, while Musetti Nori, who pushed Djokovic to five sets in Paris in 2021, is in the same class.
Two-time champion Djokovic, who is aiming to win a record 23rd Grand Slam title in Paris, will start against American Alexander Kovacevic. The Serbian player is in the same class as Hubert Hercz, with seventh seed Andrey Rublev a potential quarter-final opponent. Rublev captured the Monte-Carlo title last month and will face Laslo Jare in the first round.
On the other hand, Next GenATP American Ben Shelton is in the same segment as Rublev. The 20-year-old Shelton, who reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, had never competed on red clay before this year. Shelton will face a tough early test against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
Second seed Daniil Medvedev anchors the bottom half of the draw. The 27-year-old rose to No. 2 in the ATP rankings after winning his first clay-court title last week in Rome.