Top-seeded Novak Djokovic may face his longtime rival Rafael Nadal as early because the second spherical of the Paris Olympic tennis match.
In Thursday’s draw, Djokovic is about to play in opposition to Australian Matthew Ebden, whereas Nadal will tackle Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. The winners of those matches will meet within the second spherical.
At 38, Nadal has dominated the French Open with a document 14 titles out of his 22 main wins. He additionally secured Olympic gold in singles at Beijing in 2008 and in doubles with Marc López at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“Roland Garros, as everybody knows, is the most special place in tennis for me. I am enjoying the fact I am back for the Olympics,” Nadal stated on stage after the draw. “I am just trying to enjoy every single moment.”
French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz will face Lebanese participant Hady Habib.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland will play Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania within the first spherical, whereas second-seeded American Coco Gauff will face Australian Ajla Tomljanović.
Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is making her Olympic debut and shall be a flag bearer for the U.S. workforce at Friday’s opening ceremony alongside basketball star LeBron James. She would be the first tennis athlete to hold the U.S. flag.
Djokovic and Swiatek haven’t gained Olympic gold. Djokovic, who holds 24 Grand Slam titles, greater than anybody else in tennis aside from Margaret Court, has solely gained a bronze medal on the Beijing Games in 2008. Swiatek has gained the French Open 4 occasions up to now 5 years at Roland Garros.
Four-time main winner Naomi Osaka of Japan will compete in opposition to three-time main champion Angelique Kerber of Germany.
Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy, seeded fourth, returns to the courts the place she misplaced the French Open ultimate to Swiatek and can face Romanian Ana Bogdan. Fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula will play Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, seeded ninth, is drawn in opposition to Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo. The 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, seeded third, will face Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. Tenth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who gained the French Open in 2017, will play Colombian Camila Osorio.
Men’s and girls’s first-round play begins Saturday, however top-ranked man Jannik Sinner won’t be taking part. Sinner withdrew on Wednesday because of tonsillitis and introduced on X that he took medical recommendation to sit down out the Summer Games.
Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open runner-up to Djokovic, will face Belgian Zizou Bergs, whereas three-time main winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland is up in opposition to Pavel Kotov.
Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, seeded eleventh, will play French veteran Gael Monfils. Two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, the sixth seed, will tackle Japan’s Taro Daniel.
Other notable matchups embody fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev in opposition to Rinky Hijikata of Australia and seventh-seeded American Taylor Fritz in opposition to big-serving Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
Tokyo Games champion Alexander Zverev of Germany will play Jaume Munar of Spain.
Two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray has withdrawn from singles however will compete in males’s doubles alongside Dan Evans, marking his farewell to tennis. They will face the Japanese pair of Daniel and Kei Nishikori.
The 37-year-old Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, gained gold in singles at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. After present process hip alternative surgical procedure in 2019, he has struggled with numerous accidents and withdrew from singles at Wimbledon because of a process to take away a cyst from his backbone.
“The Olympics have been incredibly special to me. I’m really happy I get to do this one more time,” Murray stated on stage. “I just ran out of time really [to play singles], but I’m happy to be in the doubles with Dan and we play well together.”
In ladies’s doubles, top-seeded American pair Gauff and Pegula will play in opposition to the Australian duo of Daria Saville and Ellen Perez.
In males’s doubles, Nadal will workforce up with Alcaraz to face sixth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andrés Molteni. Tsitsipas will workforce up along with his youthful brother Petros to face Portuguese pair Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral.
Source: www.dailysabah.com