Absent from the draw for the main draw on Monday, world No.1 Novak Djokovic will not compete in the Masters 1000 in Madrid, where Rafael Nadal is continuing his comeback attempt, one month before Roland-Garros.
The 36-year-old Serbian, winner of 24 Grand Slam tournaments, chose to skip the Madrid tournament to concentrate on the one in Rome (another Masters 1000), before defending his title in Paris.
In the absence of “Nole”, Jannik Sinner will be the No.1 seed. According to the draw carried out on Monday, for his entry into the running, the Italian, winner of the Australian Open at the start of the year, will face his compatriot Lorenzo Sonego or a qualifier in the second round. Djokovic has still not won a title this season and has only participated in four tournaments.
His eternal rival Rafael Nadal, 37, will on the other hand be present in Madrid, after a mixed return to Barcelona last week (defeat in the 2nd round), his first tournament in more than three months.
The Majorcan, crowned five times on Madrid clay, will face in the first round the young American Darwin Blanch, 16 years old, 1.90 m and 1028th in the ATP ranking. When his young opponent was born on September 28, 2007, Nadal had already won three of his 14 titles at Roland Garros. “Guys, I’m playing against Nadal, wow,” Blanch commented with an incredulous face on social media.
A regular at tournaments in the intermediate category of “challengers”, Blanch, who received an invitation, is only playing his second ATP Masters 1000 tournament after that of Miami, where he lost in the first round against the Czech Tomás Machác , end of March. Last year, he reached the semi-finals of junior tournaments at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
If he clears this obstacle, Nadal will find the Australian Alex de Minaur, 11th in the world, who eliminated him last week in Barcelona.
Seeded No.2 and defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz remains uncertain because of pain in his right forearm which forced him to withdraw from Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. He is expected to face Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko or Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in the second round.
