PARIS: Top seed Novak Djokovic could face 14-time French Open champion Rafa Nadal in a blockbuster second-round match in the Olympic men’s singles after the draw was made at Roland Garros on Thursday.

Women’s top Iga Swiatek of Poland, who will be overwhelming favourite after winning her third successive French Open crown last month, meets Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu while second seed US Open champion Coco Gauff, who missed the Tokyo Olympics three years ago with Covid, faces Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

There were murmurs around the room when the men’s singles draw was revealed on a screen showing Spaniard Nadal, who was present at the draw, blocking Djokovic’s path.

Serbia’s Djokovic, bidding to claim the Olympic gold medal that has eluded him, was promoted to number one seed after the withdrawal of Italy’s Jannik Sinner due to illness, will face Australia’s Matthew Ebden in the opening round.

If he wins that and the 38-year-old Nadal beats Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics the pair will continue a huge career rivalry which has seen them clash 10 times at the French Open — three in final, all of which Nadal won.

“I am excited for this duel in the second round, and I will give it my all,” said Djokovic, who has faced Nadal 59 times over the past 18 years. “I am aware of the importance of the Olympic Games. I represent my country, which is more responsibility and even more pressure.”

Nadal, who won the Olympic singles gold in 2008 and the doubles in 2016, was present at the draw alongside twice Olympic singles champion Andy Murray, former French Open winner Stan Wawrinka, Angelique Kerber and Elina Svitolina.

Both Murray and Kerber will retire after the Olympics while Nadal is yet to confirm exactly when he will call time on his career after initially saying this would be his final year.

“Just excited to have the chance to be back here in this special place,” 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal said. “I wasn’t able to spend much time here this year.”

Nadal was beaten in the opening round of this year’s French Open by Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

Men’s second seed Carlos Alcaraz, who claimed his fourth Grand Slam title by winning Wimbledon this month, will face Lebanon’s Hady Habib in the first round.

Defending men’s singles champion Alexander Zverev, seeded three, faces Spain’s Jaume Munar in his opening match.

Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, playing in Paris as a neutral following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, will meet Rinky Hijikata of Australia.

Nadal and Alcaraz have joined forces to form a Spanish dream team for the men’s doubles and although not seeded will be strong medal contenders. They will play Argentine seeds Maximo Gonzales and Andres Molteni in the first round.

Swiatek, a strong favourite in the women’s singles, was given a favourable draw with American eighth seed Danielle Collins a potential quarter-final opponent.

The standout clash in the women’s singles first round is three-time Grand Slam champion Kerber of Germany, who announced Thursday she will retire once the Games end, playing Japan’s four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka with the winner likely to face Kazakhstan’s third seed Elena Rybakina in round two.

“I took the toughest decision of my life today,” said 36-year-old Kerber. “It is not easy to make such a big decision and if I could, I would play forever.”

Zverev and German partner Laura Siegemund are top seeds in the mixed doubles but face a daunting opener against Czech doubles specialist Kat­e­rina Siniakova and Tomas Machac.

In the women’s doubles, US flagbearer Gauff teams up with Jessica Pegula as top seeds. They face Australians Ellen Perz and Daria Saville in round one.

In the men’s doubles, Britain’s Murray will be eager to keep his career going for at least one more match as he and Dan Evans face Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori.

Murray earlier withdrew from the singles. The 37-year-old former world number one underwent surgery to remove a cyst on his back before Wimbledon, which also sidelined him from singles at the All England Club.

“The Olympics are incredibly special for me and I am happy to do it one more time to compete for my country,” Murray said at Thursday’s draw. “I trained the last few weeks to get myself ready to play singles and doubles but I am getting older and it’s harder to recover from all the injuries. I just ran out of time.”

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2024