The fourth-seeded Thiem, who won last year’s U.S. Open, is the only Grand Slam event champion in the bottom half of the draw. Thiem, a three-time French Open runner-up, will arrive in Paris having lost three of his last four matches.
Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, a champion at the Monte Carlo Masters in April, is in Medvedev’s quarter of the draw; sixth-seeded Alexander Zverev, a champion at the Madrid Masters this month, is in Thiem’s quarter.
American men occupy the three lowest seedings in the draw, with the American Taylor Fritz seeded 30th, John Isner 31st and Reilly Opelka 32nd. Isner opens against another American, Sam Querrey.
No player in the women’s draw has built up a French Open track record close to Nadal’s, but two players who won their most recent appearances find themselves in the top half.
Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty, who won her lone Grand Slam event title at the French Open in 2019 but missed last fall’s edition of the tournament because of travel restrictions during the pandemic, is joined in the top half of the draw by the defending champion, Iga Swiatek, who is seeded eighth after winning the Italian Open title this month.
Barty opens against the American Bernarda Pera. She could also face a tricky test in the fourth round, against either 13th-seeded Jennifer Brady, the Australian Open runner-up in February, or 17-year-old Coco Gauff, who is seeded 24th after winning her second career title last week in Parma, Italy.
Swiatek, who opens against her close friend Kaja Juvan, could face 2016 French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza in the fourth round. In the quarterfinals, Swiatek could see fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin in a rematch of last year’s final, though Kenin has struggled this season and has a difficult opening round test against the 2017 champion, Jelena Ostapenko.
Source : NYtimes
