PARIS (AP) 鈥 Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could meet in the second round of the tennis tournament at the Paris Olympics 鈥 which might end up being the last event of Nadal's career.
Djokovic was drawn Thursday against Australian Matthew Ebden in the first round, and Nadal faces Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, with the winners of those matches meeting next. tennis competition begins Saturday , and Djokovic's opening singles match is that day.
Nadal is scheduled to play doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday night, but he won't get started in singles until Sunday.
The 38-year-old Nadal won a record 14 of his 22 major trophies at the French Open. He has won two Olympic gold medals 鈥 in singles at Beijing in 2008, and in doubles with Marc L贸pez at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
鈥淩oland Garros, as everybody knows, is the most special place in tennis for me. I am enjoying the fact I am back for the Olympics," Nadal said Thursday. "I am just trying to enjoy every single moment.鈥
He has played sparingly over the past two seasons while dealing with hip surgery and abdominal muscle issues. It's possible he will retire after the Olympics, although Nadal has not said exactly what his plans are.
French Open champion Alcaraz takes on Lebanese player Hady Habib in the first round of singles on Saturday, before teaming up with Nadal later on Day 1.
Djokovic, a 24-time major champion from Serbia, and Alcaraz could meet for the singles gold in Paris, which would be a rematch of their contest in the Wimbledon final this month. Alcaraz won that one for his fourth Grand Slam title.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faces Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the first round of the women鈥檚 draw, with second-seeded American Coco Gauff taking on Australian Ajla Tomljanovi膰, who defeated Serena Williams at the 2022 U.S. Open in the 23-time Slam champ's final match.
is and is making her Olympic debut. She is a flag bearer for the U.S. team at Friday鈥檚 opening ceremony along with basketball star LeBron James. She will be the first tennis athlete to carry the U.S. flag.
and have not won Olympic gold.
Djokovic's only Olympic medal was a bronze at Beijing 16 years ago.
Swiatek has won the French Open four of the past five years on the same .
Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka of Japan takes on three-time major champion Angelique Kerber of Germany.
of Italy, who is seeded fourth, returns to the courts where she lost the to Swiatek and takes on Romanian Ana Bogdan. No. 5-seeded American Jessica Pegula plays of Switzerland.
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 鈥 seeded ninth 鈥 is drawn against Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo. The 2022 Wimbledon champ 鈥 seeded third 鈥 plays Romanian Jaqueline Cristian. No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who won the French Open here in 2017 for her only major, faces Colombian Camila Osorio.
Men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 first-round play begins Saturday, and the top-ranked man won鈥檛 be playing. on Wednesday because of tonsillitis.
Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open runner-up to Djokovic, takes on Belgian , and three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland is up against Pavel Kotov.
of Italy, seeded 11th, plays French veteran Gael Monfils. Two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud of Norway, the No. 6 seed, takes on Taro Daniel of Japan.
Also, 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 Games champion of Germany plays Jaume Munar of Spain.
Two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray has withdrawn from singles but will play in men鈥檚 doubles alongside Dan Evans in his adieu from tennis. They face Japanese pair Japan鈥檚 Daniel and Kei Nishikori.
The 37-year-old Murray, a three-time Slam champion, won gold in singles at London in 2012 and Rio four years later. Since having hip replacement surgery in 2019, he has struggled with various injuries and withdrew from singles at Wimbledon because he needed a procedure to remove a cyst from his spine.
鈥淭he Olympics has been incredibly special to me. I鈥檓 really happy I get to do this one more time,鈥 Murray said Thursday. 鈥淚 just ran out of time really (to play singles), but happy to be in the doubles with Dan and we play well together.鈥
In women鈥檚 doubles, top-seeded American pair Gauff and Pegula drew Australian pair Daria Saville and Ellen Perez.
In men's doubles, Nadal and Alcaraz will open against sixth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
Tsitsipas teams up with younger brother Petros to face Portuguese pair Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral.
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