Djokovic Opens Paris vs Vacherot, Needs Semifinal for Turin
The Rolex Paris Masters draw gave the seven-time champion Valentin Vacherot in round one, and the race for the year-end finals in Turin leaves him little room.
At the draw ceremony at the Plenitude Arena on Friday evening, tournament director Cedric Pioline lingered on one detail concerning Novak Djokovic. The seven-time Paris champion does not get a first-round bye this year, and Pioline described it like this:
“It’s a small oddity that hasn’t been able to happen to him for a long time. He’s a seed, but he’s not in the top eight. That means he will play his first match on Monday or Tuesday.”
After a two-year break, Djokovic returns to the tournament where he has won more titles than anyone in its 40-year history, and he does it in an arena he has not played in before, since it replaced Bercy a year ago. His goal is a record eighth title, but first he has to get past Valentin Vacherot, and after his loss to Struff in Basel, which we covered, the math for Turin has become tight.
Who is Valentin Vacherot, and why is round one no formality?
Valentin Vacherot of Monaco won the Shanghai Masters in 2025. In Basel on Thursday he beat Rafael Jodar, and Yahoo Sports describes him as a player in form who had reached the semifinals in Japan before that. Jodar was also Djokovic’s closest rival for the last spot in Turin, so Vacherot’s result in Basel has already affected the race for the year-end finals.
Djokovic is the tenth seed in Paris. The top eight in the draw skip the first round, he does not, so he will open the tournament against Vacherot on Monday, November 2, or Tuesday, November 3. The main draw runs through the final on Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m. Central European Time, with qualifying played on October 31 and November 1.
Where does the draw lead after round one?
If the seeds advance as the draw projects, Djokovic’s path looks like this:
- second round: Luciano Darderi or a qualifier
- third round: Alex de Minaur, the eighth seed, or Andrey Rublev
- quarterfinal: most likely Alexander Zverev, the top seed, in whose quarter are also Tien, Tsitsipas and Hurkacz
- semifinal: Shelton, Tiafoe, Paul or Cerundolo
- final: Alcaraz, Cobolli, Medvedev or Fils
Zverev has been the world number one since Monday and arrives in Paris as the top seed, with this year’s titles from Roland Garros and the US Open. After his bye he will play the winner of Musetti against Hurkacz, one of several strong opening matches. Organizers will mark his rise to the top with a ceremony together with the ATP, and Pioline said: “There is no such thing as being world number one automatically.” Yahoo Sports points out that Djokovic beat Zverev a few weeks ago, but adds that the feat would be needed again here.
Alcaraz and Zverev are in opposite halves of the draw and can meet only in the final. Defending champion Jannik Sinner withdrew with a right knee injury, and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Joao Fonseca, Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik also dropped off the list.
What does Djokovic need for Turin?
The year-end finals in Turin run from November 15 to 22, and Paris is the last Masters before them. Zverev, Alcaraz, Shelton and Medvedev have already secured their places, so the final spots are decided in Paris. According to Srbija Danas, Djokovic is currently 11th in the race, and Sinner is out because of the injury that ended his season.
By the math Yahoo Sports lays out, the least Djokovic must achieve is a semifinal, and only if De Minaur and Taylor Fritz pick up no new points this week and lose early in Paris. A title would lift him to 3,890 points, ahead of Jodar, which should secure him a place. There is also the opposite scenario: if De Minaur wins Vienna and reaches the Paris final, he would have 3,930 points and finish ahead of Djokovic even if Djokovic wins the tournament.
The math is further complicated by the unclear situation around Arthur Fils, the sixth seed, who is in Alcaraz’s quarter. In the Basel quarterfinal he led Fritz 2-0 in the first set, then lost eight games in a row and retired from the match. Tennis Majors reports the reason as leg pain, while Srbija Danas writes about a back injury, and his appearance in Paris is uncertain. Fils is among the players still in the race for Turin.
Djokovic takes the court on Monday or Tuesday, against Vacherot.
