In a draw neither is likely to relish, Rafael Nadal will face Alexander Zverev in the opening round of the French Open.
After weeks of uncertainty over Nadal’s prospects of competing at the tournament, there was an audible murmur of disbelief at the draw ceremony as Zverev, the fourth seed, was confirmed as the 14-time champion’s first opponent.
It was clear the unseeded Spaniard would face a top-eight player from the moment his name emerged at the top of the second quarter of the draw, but Zverev represents one of the toughest assignments he could have landed. The contest will be a rematch of their ill-fated semi-final of two years ago, which ended with the German Olympic champion rupturing ankle ligaments late in the second set after more than three hours of mesmerising play.
Much has changed in the interim. Nadal is now languishing at 276 in the rankings after struggling to overcome abdominal and hip problems that have brought him to the brink of retirement. Zverev, meanwhile, fresh from winning his biggest title in almost three years in Rome last week, appears to have put his injury woes firmly behind him.
To judge from his recent comments about Nadal’s French Open prospects, however, the German is unlikely to be lulled into a false sense of security by his opponent’s relatively modest record of five wins from eight outings in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome.
“Rafa is going to play a lot better than he did in Madrid and Rome,” said Zverev at the Italian Open last week. “I’m certain about that.”
Many will balk at the possibility of the German bringing the curtain down on Nadal’s Roland Garros career, given that the 27-year-old’s trial for alleged domestic abuse begins in the Tiergarten district court in Berlin on 31 May. Zverev, who is not required to attend the proceedings, has consistently denied the charges.
Nadal, whose proud record of having never lost two consecutive clay-court matches will be on the line after his defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in Rome, is likely to take a measured view of the situation, much as he did when he was drawn in the same half as Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in 2021.
“That’s part of the game,” Nadal said then. “That’s how the ranking works. I mean, there is not one sport that is more fair than tennis on that.
“There is a ranking. The seedings are made with the ranking that you had during the last year. So that’s how it is.”
A possible source of consolation for the Spaniard is that, should he somehow find a way past Zverev, his path through the top half would begin to look a fraction less daunting. David Goffin, ranked 115, is a possible second-round opponent, and from there he could expect to face Tallon Griekspoor, the 26th seed, followed by a pair of former quarter-finalists in Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev. The odds remain stacked against a deep run, but Nadal has performed too many miracles in the 16th arrondissement to regard Zverev’s progress as a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and top seed, will open his bid for a record 25th grand slam title against French wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert. In the lower half of the draw, Jannik Sinner, seeded second, faces Christopher Eubanks of the United States, while Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 champion, plays former finalist Andy Murray in a battle of three-time grand slam champions.
In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek will begin her title defence against a qualifier ahead of a potential second-round meeting with Naomi Osaka, who opens against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. The Polish world No 1, vying for a fourth title on the Parisian clay, has landed in the opposite half of the draw to Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, who has won four of their six previous encounters, most recently in the semi-finals of last month’s Stuttgart Open.
“I love this place, so I’m always excited to come back,” said Swiatek at the draw ceremony. “It feels like home.”
If the seedings hold, Swiatek will play Coco Gauff, the US Open champion, in the last four, in what would be a repeat of the 2022 final. First, though, the 22-year-old would potentially need to navigate a last-16 meeting with Barbora Krejcikova, the champion of three summers ago, followed by a quarter-final showdown with either Marketa Vondrousova, a finalist in 2019, or Danielle Collins, who is playing some of the finest tennis of her career in her final season on tour. Gauff will open against a qualifier, while Rybakina plays Greet Minnen of Belgium.
Aryna Sabalenka props up the lower half of the draw. The second seed will open her challenge for a second straight major, following her successful title defence at the Australian Open in January, against Erika Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian ranked 101. The Belarusian, a semi-finalist last year, is expected to face Maria Sakkari, the Greek sixth seed, before disputing a place in the final with Rybakina.