File picture of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
| Photograph Credit score: AP
High-seeded Novak Djokovic might meet his longtime rival Rafael Nadal within the second spherical of the Paris Olympic tennis event.
Djokovic was drawn Thursday in opposition to Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal faces Hungaraian Marton Fucsovics, with the winners of these matches assembly in Spherical 2.
The 38-year-old Nadal received a report 14 of his 22 main trophies on the French Open. He received gold in singles at Beijing in 2008, and in doubles with Marc López at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz takes on Lebanese participant Hady Habib.
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 up Australian Ajla Tomljanović.
Djokovic and Swiatek haven’t received Olympic gold.
Djokovic owns 24 Grand Slam trophies, greater than anybody else in tennis aside from Margaret Court docket, however his solely Olympic medal was bronze at Beijing in 2008.
Swiatek has received the French Open 4 of the previous 5 years on the identical clay courts at Roland Garros.
Males’s and girls’s first-round play begins on July 27, and the top-ranked man received’t be enjoying. Jannik Sinner pulled out on Wednesday due to tonsillitis. The 22-year-old from Italy posted on X that he took medical recommendation to sit down out the Summer season Video games.
Robust draw for Nagal; Bopanna-Balaji to begin in opposition to French cuo
India’s high singles participant Sumit Nagal will start his Paris Olympics marketing campaign in opposition to French Moutet Corentin, who he had overwhelmed in April and will run into formidable Australian world quantity six Alex di Minaur within the second spherical if he wins the opener.
Nagal, ranked eightieth on the planet, shares a 2-2 head-to-head report with Moutet, who’s positioned 12 locations above him within the ATP singles chart.
If Nagal can clear the primary spherical, he would possibly face Wimbledon quarterfinalist Di Minaur within the second spherical.
Di Minaur withdrew from the last-eight Wimbledon conflict in opposition to Novak Djokovic as a consequence of a hip harm.
Within the males’s doubles, Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji have been drawn to fulfill the French staff of Fabien Reboul and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Bopanna has shared the court docket with Roger-Vasselin prior to now on the ATP Tour.
That is Bopanna’s final probability to win an Olympic medal. He had completed fourth with Sania Mirza within the blended doubles occasion at 2016 Rio Video games.
