Tennis gamers from left, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, Rafael Nadal of Spain, Angelique Kerber of Germany and Andy Murray of Britain attend the tennis official draw ceremony, on the Paris Olympics 2024, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photograph/Andy Wong)
PARIS — Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic may meet within the second spherical of the tennis match on the Paris Olympics — which could find yourself being the final occasion of Nadal’s profession.
Djokovic was drawn Thursday in opposition to Australian Matthew Ebden within the first spherical, and Nadal faces Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, with the winners of these matches assembly subsequent. The Summer season Video games’ tennis competitors begins Saturday at Roland Garros, and Djokovic’s opening singles match is that day.
Nadal is scheduled to play doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday evening, however he received’t get began in singles till Sunday.
READ: Rafael Nadal ‘not comfy’ forward of Paris Olympics bid
The 38-year-old Nadal received a document 14 of his 22 main trophies on the French Open. He has received two Olympic gold medals — in singles at Beijing in 2008, and in doubles with Marc López at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“Roland Garros, as everyone is aware of, is essentially the most particular place in tennis for me. I’m having fun with the very fact I’m again for the Olympics,” Nadal stated Thursday. “I’m simply attempting to take pleasure in each single second.”
He has performed sparingly over the previous two seasons whereas coping with hip surgical procedure and belly muscle points. It’s doable he’ll retire after the Olympics, though Nadal has not stated precisely what his plans are.
French Open champion Alcaraz takes on Lebanese participant Hady Habib within the first spherical of singles on Saturday, earlier than teaming up with Nadal afterward Day 1.
Rafael Nadal of Spain, middle, speaks on stage as tennis gamers from left, Andy Murray of Britain, Angelique Kerber of Germany, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland look on as they attend the tennis official draw ceremony on the Paris Olympics 2024, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photograph/Andy Wong)
Djokovic, a 24-time main champion from Serbia, and Alcaraz may meet for the singles gold in Paris, which might be a rematch of their contest within the Wimbledon ultimate this month. Alcaraz received that one for his fourth Grand Slam title.
High-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faces Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania within the first spherical of the ladies’s draw, with second-seeded American Coco Gauff taking over Australian Ajla Tomljanović, who defeated Serena Williams on the 2022 U.S. Open within the 23-time Slam champ’s ultimate match.
READ: Nadal, Alcaraz cautious on Paris Olympics doubles medal probabilities
Gauff is the reigning U.S. Open champion and is making her Olympic debut. She is a flag bearer for the U.S. group at Friday’s opening ceremony together with basketball star LeBron James. She would be the first tennis athlete to hold the U.S. flag.
Djokovic and Swiatek haven’t received Olympic gold.
Djokovic’s solely Olympic medal was a bronze at Beijing 16 years in the past.
Swiatek has received the French Open 4 of the previous 5 years on the identical clay courts at Roland Garros.
4-time main winner Naomi Osaka of Japan takes on three-time main champion Angelique Kerber of Germany.
Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy, who’s seeded fourth, returns to the courts the place she misplaced the French Open ultimate to Swiatek and takes on Romanian Ana Bogdan. No. 5-seeded American Jessica Pegula performs 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 champ Elena Rybakina — seeded third — performs Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who received the French Open right here in 2017 for her solely main, faces Colombian Camila Osorio.
Males’s and ladies’s first-round play begins Saturday, and the top-ranked man received’t be enjoying. Jannik Sinner, a 22-year-old from Italy, pulled out on Wednesday due to tonsillitis.
Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open runner-up to Djokovic, takes on Belgian Zizou Bergs, and three-time main winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland is up in opposition to Pavel Kotov.
Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, seeded eleventh, performs French veteran Gael Monfils. Two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, the No. 6 seed, takes on Taro Daniel of Japan.
Additionally, it’s No. 4 Daniil Medvedev of Russia vs. Rinky Hijikata of Australia, and No. 7-seeded American Taylor Fritz vs. big-serving Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
Tokyo Video games champion Alexander Zverev of Germany performs Jaume Munar of Spain.
Two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray has withdrawn from singles however will play in males’s doubles alongside Dan Evans in his adieu from tennis. They face Japanese pair Japan’s Daniel and Kei Nishikori.
The 37-year-old Murray, a three-time Slam champion, received gold in singles at London in 2012 and Rio 4 years later. Since having hip substitute surgical procedure in 2019, he has struggled with numerous accidents and withdrew from singles at Wimbledon as a result of he wanted a process to take away a cyst from his backbone.
“The Olympics has been extremely particular to me. I’m actually completely happy I get to do that another time,” Murray stated Thursday. “I simply ran out of time actually (to play singles), however completely happy to be within the doubles with Dan and we play nicely collectively.”
In girls’s doubles, top-seeded American pair Gauff and Pegula drew Australian pair Daria Saville and Ellen Perez.
In males’s doubles, Nadal and Alcaraz will open in opposition to sixth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
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Tsitsipas groups up with youthful brother Petros to face Portuguese pair Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral.
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