Paris Olympics tennis draw: Djokovic-Nadal set for potential 2nd round meeting, Murray out of singles

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic could meet his longtime rival Rafael Nadal in the second round of the Paris Olympic tennis tournament.

Djokovic was drawn Thursday against Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal faces Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, with the winners of those matches meeting in Round 2. The 38-year-old Nadal won a record 14 of his 22 major trophies at the French Open. He won 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 player Hady Habib.

Meanwhile, two-time Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray said he will not compete in the singles competition at the Games and will prioritise the doubles in his final tournament before retirement. Murray skipped the singles in his final appearance at Wimbledon this month after having surgery to remove a spinal cyst, but had initially entered the singles and doubles, alongside Dan Evans, in Paris.

“I’m happy to compete one more time for my country. Unfortunately I trained to get ready for singles and doubles but I’m getting older now and just ran out of time really,” he said after the draw ceremony at Roland Garros. “But I’m happy to be in the doubles with Dan and we play well together and hope we can have a good run.”

Murray won the singles gold at London 2012, beating Roger Federer in the final. He successfully defended his title in Rio four years later by defeating Juan Martin del Potro.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faces Irina-Camella Begu of Romania in the opening round of the women’s draw with second-seeded American Coco Gauff taking on Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

The Djokovic-Nadal rivalry

Meanwhile, Djokovic and Nadal are likely to meet for the 60th time across all major competitions, an intense rivalry currently led by the Serbian with 30 wins to Nadal’s 29.

Nadal and Djokovic have squared off once at the Games in 2008, where the Spaniard notched up a comfortable straight-sets win. The pair last met at the 2022 French Open quarterfinal in Paris, with Nadal securing a 6–2, 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(4) win. Nadal also holds the edge on clay-courts by an overwhelming 20-8 margin.

All matches (59): Djokovic, 30–29
All finals (28): Djokovic, 15–13
Grand Slam matches: Nadal, 11–7
Clay courts: Nadal 20–8

With Reuters inputs

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