AFP – The Olympic Games tennis tournament gets underway at Roland Garros today with Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka all in action.
AFP Sport looks at five matches to watch at the event which runs at the home of the French Open until August 4.
Two tennis worlds collide at Roland Garros when world number three Alcaraz, fresh from back-to-back triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon, takes on 275th-ranked Habib, born in Texas and representing Lebanon.
When Alcaraz was pocketing USD3.5 million for winning Wimbledon, Habib was earning a meagre USD1,500 at a second-tier tournament in Winnipeg.
Alcaraz is playing in his first Olympics and will also partner Rafael Nadal in the doubles, an assignment which he described as a “dream”.
Djokovic, the holder of 24 Grand Slam titles, has yet to capture Olympic gold and will be playing at the Games for the fifth time having claimed bronze in Beijing in 2008.
The 37-year-old is enduring a poor year by his standards, having lost his Australian Open and French Open titles as well as his world top ranking.
“I haven’t yet won a title in this calendar year so people tend to count me out, but it has happened before and it can always change. So it can be a motivator,” said Djokovic.
Ebden, 36, is currently unranked and made the singles in Paris as an alternate after a series of injury pull-outs.
He is a two-time doubles champion at the Slams with wins at Wimbledon in 2022 and this year’s Australian Open.
Nadal captured singles gold in Beijing in 2008 and the doubles title alongside Marc Lopez at Rio eight years later.
However, the 38-year-old has picked up a thigh injury which has placed a question mark over his participation on the courts where he has won 14 of his 22 Slams.
Fucsovics, ranked 83, was once the top-ranked junior and has defeated the likes of former French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in his senior career.
Nadal and Djokovic could meet in the second round of the singles although the Spaniard’s coach Carlos Moya advised caution over his prospects.
“Don’t force it at the moment and give him time to see if he recovers well,” Moya had told Spanish radio on Thursday.
Angelique Kerber could play the final match of her career on Saturday against Naomi Osaka on Court Philippe Chatrier in the night session, after announcing she will retire after the Games.
The three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one will have a tough task against Osaka.
The Japanese star showed signs of a return to form when she pushed eventual champion Iga Swiatek to the brink of defeat in the French Open second round, missing a match point.
“If I could, I would play forever, but I think there should be a time (to retire),” said German Kerber. “I feel good with that. So I will just try to enjoy my last tournament here.”
Andy Murray will also be hoping to extend his career in his doubles opener alongside Dan Evans against Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori.
The two-time Olympic singles gold medallist had hoped to play in singles and doubles in his final tournament but could not sufficiently recover from a back injury to take part in both.
“It’s unfortunate that I trained all the last few weeks to try and get myself ready to play the singles and doubles, but I am getting a bit older, and it becomes a bit harder to recover from the injuries,” said Murray, who also won mixed doubles silver for Britain with Laura Robson at London 2012.
