By Victor Kanayo
Ahead of the kick-off of the 2024 French Open on Sunday May 26, organisers have released fixtures with top seeds getting tough draws.
Playing in his possible final French Open, Spanish tennis giant Rafael Nadal will face Olympic gold medallist Alexander Zverev in the first round.
Nadal, a record 14-time champion currently ranked 276th in the world, is still ambitious to return to Roland Garros for the Olympics despite eyeing Grand Slam retirement.
For Novak Djokovic, he will begin his title defence against French wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles.
Among the other highlights in the first round, Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner takes on American Christopher Eubanks, who reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year, with Carlos Alcaraz beginning against a qualifier or lucky loser, and Daniil Medvedev playing the German Dominik Koepfer.
Seventh seed Casper Ruud, who is aiming to go one better after losing in the last two finals in Paris, opens against Jakub Mensik.
Two greats who regularly competed for major titles face each other when former world No. 1 Andy Murray takes on 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka, a match-up which first took place19 years ago in the Davis Cup.
Murray will link up in the doubles with Great Britain Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans, who has been drawn against 13th seed Holger Rune in his singles clash. Cameron Norrie, who snuck in as the 32nd seed, faces world No. 57 Pavel Kotov from Russia, with Jack Draper yet to find out his opponent as he will meet a qualifier.
This year’s French Open is scheduled between May 26 and June 9.
