Paris Masters Lights Up 40th Edition With An Eye On Turin, Too

ATP Paris
Rolex Paris Masters (photo: Florian Heer)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, November 2, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

As the Rolex Paris Masters, the ninth and last ATP Masters 1000 event of the 2026 season, begins its 40th anniversary edition at La Défense Arena on Monday, not only will a world-class field be vying to win the title but there are also four remaining qualifying spots in the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals up for grabs.

New World No. 1 Alexander Zverev of Germany faces an intriguing challenge if he hopes to repeat his 2024 championship success. The 29-year-old Hamburg native, who passed 2025 Paris champion Jannik Sinner of Italy in the PIF ATP Rankings this week, opens his campaign against either recent Lyon champion Lorenzo Musetti of Italy or big-serving Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. They play the lead-off match on Court Central Monday to begin this year’s tournament. If Zverev makes it to Friday’s quarterfinals, he could face seven-time Paris champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who remains in the chase for the last berth in Turin.

The 39-year-old, 24-time major champion Djokovic will face Basel champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco in his opening match on Tuesday. The last time they met was in 2025 and it was in Shanghai during the Monegasque’s title run to the Rolex Shanghai Masters, his first ATP Tour title. 

If Djokovic were to survive against Vacherot, he would face either Luciano Darderi of Italy or a qualifier in the second round, followed by a possible third-round tussle with Andrey Rublev or eighth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, who finished runner-up to World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in Vienna on Sunday. The Australian No. 1 is also looking to qualifying for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Speaking of Alcaraz, the newly-crowned Erste Bank Open champion will open against either Alex Michelsen of the United States or Basel finalist Jiri Lehecka of Czechia. As he looks to win his first Rolex Paris Masters title, Alcaraz could face World No. 7 Arthur Fils of France in the quarterfinals and World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who won the 2020 Paris crown, or World No. 6 Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, World No. 4 and third seed Ben Shelton of the United States (41-18 in 2026) arrives in Paris looking to rebound from a disappointing second-round loss in Basel after reaching his first major final at the US Open in September. The 24-year-old winner of four ATP Tour titles this season, who opens against either Cameron Norrie of Great Britain or Matteo Arnaldi of Italy and is seeded to face Zverev in the semifinal round, made big headlines on Sunday. He announced that he’s adding former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s former coach, to his coaching team for the 2027 season. The story first broke on Sunday by The Times of London.

Ferrero guided Alcaraz to his first six major titles before ending their partnership in December 2025. Shelton, who has qualified for his second-straight Nitto ATP Finals, will start working with Ferrero during the upcoming offseason. 

In a statement released on Sunday, Shelton said: “Juan Carlos is one of the great minds in tennis. His experience of winning at the highest level and developing champions will be a huge asset to our team. My dad [Bryan] has been such an important part of my journey, and I’m excited about what we can all achieve together as we look to the future.”

Ferrero wrote on social media: “Ben has extraordinary talent, power and character. I’m very happy to join Bryan and the team in this exciting new chapter. I’m looking forward to contributing my experience and working together to help Ben achieve his ambitions on the biggest stages.”

Around the Rolex Paris Masters

• Among the five featured matches on Court Central Monday include: Lorenzi Musetti of Italy versus Hubert Hurkacz of Poland at 11 a.m. (CET), followed by No. 9 seed Rafael Jodar of Spain versus Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, then Casper Ruud of Norway versus qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina. Then, not before 7 p.m. (CET), it’s Denis Shapovalov of Canada versus Karen Khachanov of Russia followed not before 8:30 p.m. (CET) by Ugo Humbert of France versus Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.

There are five additional singles matches on Court 1 and three on Court 2, plus three doubles matches spread across Court 2 and Court 3.

• The 56-player draw features nine of the current Top 10 players. Only World No. 2 Jannik Sinner of Italy, who ended his 2026 season last month with a knee injury, is missing.

• Twenty-year-old Rafael Jodar, who trails Alex de Minaur in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin by a single point for the last qualifying position, is making his Top 10 debut today.

• The top eight seeds all received first-round byes. There are 10 players from host France among the 56 players in the draw, most of any country, followed by seven players each from the United States and Italy. 

• Frenchman Moise Kouame, Kyrian Jacquet, Arthur Gea and Titouan Droguet received wild cards into the main of their home ATP Masters 1000 event.

• In doubles, defending Paris champions and current co-World No. 1s Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain are the top-seeded team, in search of their sixth ATP Tour title this season. They are followed by No. 2 seeds Christian Harrison of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, and No. 3 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina. Three positions for the Nitto ATP Finals are still up for grabs this week in Paris.

Monday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

“Quotable …”

“Since the beginning of the season, I have been waiting for playing in Paris. I couldn’t play in [Roland-Garros], but I’m looking forward to playing here.

“I don’t know if the atmosphere will be as crazy as in Bercy, but the room is huge, so matches are going to be tense.

“The scorelines are going to be tight. So, the atmosphere will be wonderful. So, I’m really, really looking forward to playing there.”

– Arthur Fils of France, during his pre-tournament news conference on Sunday, on playing at La Défense Arena for the first time.

 

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