Carlos Alcaraz is set to defend his title at Roland Garros, having won the tournament last year in Paris.
Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev in a five-set thriller last year to win a maiden French Open title, securing his third Grand Slam trophy.
The Spaniard is in red-hot form at the moment, and comes into Roland Garros with two Masters 1000 victories on clay under his belt.
He won the Monte Carlo Masters and emerged victorious at the Italian Open, where Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner to win it all in Rome.
With the Roland Garros draw officially announced, Alcaraz enters the tournament as a heavy favourite and will hope to get off to a quick start at the event, which he feels is slightly different to last year.
Carlos Alcaraz says why Roland Garros will be ‘different’ this year
Speaking at the Roland Garros draw ceremony, Alcaraz said: “It’s been a great clay season so far. The confidence is really high, I’ve played great matches, got great wins, so I’m excited.”
“I remember [last year] I got two or three wins before coming to Roland Garros, this year it’s a bit different. Hopefully, it’ll be the same result as last year”
On his success so far, Alcaraz said: “I’ve said that I have achieved so much really, really fast. Sometimes I feel that it has been too fast, but it’s the pace that I really want to keep going at in my career.”
“The difficult thing in tennis is to maintain the level year after year, so let’s see how it’s going to be the next few years, but hopefully keeping the same pace.”
Carlos Alcaraz’s potential route to the final at Roland Garros
Alcaraz’s first match at the French Open will be against former world number four Kei Nishikori, who he has never played before.
A second-round opponent for the 22-year-old will come in the form of either Luca Nardi or Fabian Marozsan.
In round three, Alcaraz could likely face big server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, followed by a potential fourth-round clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas or Ben Shelton.
Karen Khachanov, Tommy Paul, and clay court specialist Casper Ruud make up three possible quarter-final matchups for the four-time Grand Slam champion, and his semi-final opponent could be Taylor Fritz, Lorenzo Musetti, or Holger Rune.
In the other half of the draw lie Alcaraz’s potential final opponents, featuring Zverev, Jack Draper, Novak Djokovic, and Sinner.
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