RAFAEL Nadal will return to the ATP Tour at the Rolex Paris Masters and has earned the status of top seed after five-time winner Novak Djokovic opted not to play at the event. Instead, the world number one who had a shock loss to Lorenzo Sonego in Vienna will head to the Nitto ATP Finals in a bid to retain the top spot in the rankings. For Nadal, he is coming off a memorable win at Roland Garros for his 13th title, and will be looking for his first ever Paris Masters.

As Andy Murray and Jack Sock are not competing in the Masters 1000, the only past winner is 2018 victor, Karen Khachanov who enters the draw as the 11th seed and with a soft first couple of matches. The Russian takes on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the opening round and potentially in the Round of 32, or French wildcard Benjamin Bonzi. A Round of 16 clash with in-form Diego Schwartzman is where it gets a little difficult, with Australian Alex de Minaur and Daniil Medvedev in that quarter of the draw as potential quarter finals opponents.

Top seed Nadal has a bye in the first round like all the top eight seeds, with the clay court champion to take on either Filip Krajinovic or compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the second round. Krajinovic has had some bad luck of late, copping Djokovic in the opening round at Vienna and then a second round clash with Rafa in the Paris Masters. Up the other end of the draw, second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has a jaw-dropping unlucky second round clash with either Ugo Humbert or Casper Ruud, with the former favoured given the match is on hard court.

Medvedev will need to put a disappointing loss at Vienna behind him, mainly because he will likely face his conqueror from the Erste Bank Open in Kevin Anderson. The South African plays Laslo Djere in the first round before the Russian in the Round of 32 should the big-server advance through. It is a huge eighth of the draw, with de Minaur taking on fellow top 30 talent Dusan Lajovic, while the dangerous Sonego locks horns with the always unpredictable Alexander Bublik.

The one to watch at the moment is Andrey Rublev, taking the sixth seed and has a potential second round match with Hubert Hurkacz, and then could meet Stan Wawrinka in the Round of 16. If that is not big enough, then a mouth-watering quarter finals matchup between Rublev and Alexander Zverev, both of whom are coming off big winning streaks, will be the match of the Tour. Zverev faces either Miomir Kecmanovic or John Millman in the second round, with a likely third round clash against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

Among the other seeds, Schwartzman returns after a rest from Vienna to face either home nation hero Richard Gasquet, or Taylor Fritz in the second round, while Felix Auger-Aliassime takes on Marin Cilic and fellow Canadian Milos Raonic meets Aljaz Bedene. Matteo Berrettini and David Goffin round out the top eight seeds and will be hoping for better luck than late, with both receiving very winnable matches to the third round.

The big question mark will be whether Nadal can return to his best in Paris without Djokovic there, and how the likes of Zverev and Rublev will stack up with all the big guns at the ATP Masters 1000 with the best of the best eyeing off a place in the ATP Finals.