Jannik Sinner will face an early banana skin in his first ATP Masters 1000 event as a top seed as he could face Lorenzo Sonego in the second round of the Madrid Open while Rafael Nadal will face an American teenager in his opener.
With world No 1 Novak Djokovic opting to skip the Madrid Open, Sinner inherited the top seed and it is the first time that he achieved the feat at one of the Masters events.
But he could not have asked for a worse draw as he will face either his fellow Italian Sonego or a qualifier in the second round. He is projected to meet newly crowned Barcelona Open champion Casper Ruud or Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final and either Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Ruud, who defeated Tsitsipas in the ATP 500 final on Sunday, will kick his campaign off against either Miomir Kecmanovic or Zhang Zhizhen with Dimitrov a likely fourth-round opponent.
The second quarter is spearheaded by third seed Medvedev and Tsitsipas, although it also features five-time champion Rafael Nadal.
Medvedev takes on either Christopher O’Connell or Matteo Arnaldi in the second round with 14th seed Ben Shelton a projected fourth-round opponent. If he gets to that then the form book suggests he will meet Tsitsipas.
However, the Greek – who faces a qualifier or Dusan Lajovic first up – could face tennis great Nadal in the fourth round.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner, who is not seeded as he has slipped down the rankings following a lengthy injury-enforced absence, will open his campaign against 16-year-old American Darwin Blanch.
The teenager – currently at No 1,028 in the ATP Rankings – has been handed a wildcard for the main draw.
The winner of the Nadal-Blanch match could face 10th seed Alex de Minaur in the second round, 20th seed Frances Tiafoe in the third round and Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
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Carlos Alcaraz leads the bottom half of the draw and the defending champion will start his run against either Alexander Shevchenko or Arthur Rinderknech.
If he reaches the fourth round, then 13th seed Ugo Humbert or 23rd seed Jan-Lenard Struff – last year’s runner-up – could await while Andrey Rublev or Holger Rune is a projected quarter-finalist with one of Alexander Zverev, Hubert Hurkacz or Taylor Fritz likely to be a semi-final opponent.
Zverev will likely meet 15th seed Tommy Paul in the fourth round and Hurkacz or Fritz in the quarter-final.