Jack Draper has been handed a difficult draw at the Paris Masters but Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will be satisfied with their respective paths to a potential place in the final.
The British No 1, currently competing at the Vienna Open in Austria, will take on Lorenzo Musetti in their semi-final clash on Saturday.
But at the back of his mind, the 22-year-old may be wondering when the luck of the draw will swing his way. Ahead of next week’s tournament in Paris, the Englishman has been given a stern task to reach the latter stages.
Draper has not been seeded and will therefore have to overcome Jiri Lehecka in the first round, with the Czech player currently ranked 28th in the world.
The pair have previous too. Lehecka emerged victorious in a closely-fought final at the Adelaide International earlier this year, winning out 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Australia.
And Draper will be out for revenge as he heads to Paris, with the world No 18 setting his sights on cracking the top 10 in the ATP rankings.
Beating Lehecka will be a tall order in itself. But if he does progress, more difficult potential ties await the youngster. A realistic path towards the final could see him take on Taylor Fritz in round two, followed by a clash with Australian Alex de Minaur.
If he makes it past some of his fellow top-20 players, Draper would then likely come across Sinner – and on current form, the world No 1 would be the favourite to progress.
Draper would still likely need to beat Alexander Zverev to get to the final, where Alcaraz could be waiting for him.
Assuming Sinner and Alcaraz make it through unscathed to reach the final, the pair now know that they can only meet in the showpiece event at the Bercy Arena.
While Sinner, 23, boasts an incredible win rate of 91 per cent of his matches in 2024, he has lost all three of his last encounters with Alcaraz, 21. Tennis fans would be relishing the opportunity to see them both in action.
But Draper can have his say about denying them yet another match-up on the ATP Tour if he gets to the quarter-finals and beats Sinner.
If there is one positive for the Briton to take, it’s that he won’t also have to face Novak Djokovic. The Serbian announced his withdrawal from contention due to injury this week, but Draper will still have his work cut out in France regardless.
