PARIS — Novak Djokovic, the top seed, might face decades-old rival Rafael Nadal in the following round of the Paris Olympic tennis competition. Djokovic assigned to play on Thursday against Australian Matthew Ebden, while Nadal faces Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, with the winners meeting in Round 2.
Novak Djokovic statement
“Olympic expectations are enormous, and I don’t want to alter them. It provides me with personal motivation to tackle it in the best way I can in order to get the greatest potential outcome,” Djokovic added. Nadal, 38, won 14 of his 22 major titles in the French Open, a record. He won gold medals in singles in Beijing in 2008 and doubles with Marc Lopez in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“As everyone knows, Roland Garros is the most unique place in tennis for me.” “I’m glad I’m back for the Olympics,” Nadal remarked on stage following the draw. “I am doing my best to soak up every single experience.”
Carlos Alcaraz, the French Open champion, takes on Hady Habib of Lebanon.Top-ranked In the first phase of the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek of Poland will play Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, while second-seeded American Coco Gauff will face Australian Ajla Tomljanović.
Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, will make her Olympic debut as a flag bearer for the U.S. team, alongside basketball star LeBron James. She will be the first tennis athlete to carry the U.S. flag. Djokovic and Swiatek have not won Olympic gold, with Djokovic having 24 Grand Slam trophies and Swiatek winning the French Open four of the past five years.
Naomi Osaka, a four-time major winner, faces Angelique Kerber, while Jasmine Paolini returns to the courts after losing the French Open final to Swiatek. Jessica Pegula plays Viktorija Golubic, while Barbora Krejcikova faces Sara Sorribes Tormo. Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, faces Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. Jelena Ostapenko, who won the French Open in 2017, faces Colombian Camila Osorio.
The men’s and women’s first rounds begin on Saturday, and the top-ranked individual will not participate. Jannik Sinner stepped out on Wednesday due to tonsillitis. The 22-year-old Italian athlete announced on X that he has followed medical advice to withdraw from the Summer Games.
Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open runner-up to Djokovic, faces Belgian Zizou Bergs, while three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland faces Pavel Kotov.Italian Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti, seeded 11th, will face French veteran Gael Monfils. Casper Ruud of Norway, the No.
6 seed, will face Japan’s Taro Daniel. In addition, No. 4 Daniil Medvedev will face Rinky Hijikata of Australia, and No. 7-seeded American Taylor Fritz will face big-serving Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
Alexander Zverev, the winner of the Tokyo Games, will face Jaume Munar of Spain. Andy Murray, a two-time Olympic winner, has withdrawn from singles but will compete in men’s doubles alongside Dan Evans as part of his retirement from tennis.
They will face Japan’s Daniel and Kei Nishikori. Murray, 37, is a three-time Grand Slam champion who won gold in singles in London in 2012 and again in Rio four years later. He has suffered with injuries since having a hip replacement in 2019, and he withdrew from singles at Wimbledon due to a cyst in his spine that needed to be removed.
“The Olympics have been really special to me. “I’m really glad I get to do this one more time,” Murray stated on stage. “I just ran out of time really (to play singles), but happy to be in the doubles with Dan and we play well together.”
In women’s doubles, top-seeded Americans Gauff and Pegula faced Australians Daria Saville and Ellen Perez.Also in men’s doubles, Nadal and Alcaraz face sixth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. Tsitsipas and his younger brother Petros will face Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral of Portugal.
Author: Tania Mukherjee
Tania Mukherjee is an author. Immersing herself in the world of Entertainment and expressing her thoughts along with her feelings through the power of the written word. With a deep passion for writing, she finds solace and fulfillment in conveying her ideas to others.
