Rafael Nadal Faces Alexander Zverev At Farewell French Open As Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka Eye Clash
NDTV
RafaelNadalwill face world number four Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster first round match at his farewell French Open while women's champion Iga Swiatek and fellow four-time major winner Naomi Osaka are on a second round collision course.
Rafael Nadal will face world number four Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster first round match at his farewell French Open while women's champion Iga Swiatek and fellow four-time major winner Naomi Osaka are on a second round collision course. Defending men's champion and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will face French veteran Pierre Hugues-Herbert in his opener. Nadal, who has won Roland Garros on 14 occasions, is unseeded after injury saw his ranking plummet to 276. He and Zverev met in the semi-finals in 2022 when the German was forced to retire after suffering a serious ankle injury. Nadal, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, will turn 38 next week and this season will be his last on tour.
He holds a 7-3 winning head-to-head record against Germany's Zverev with five of those victories coming on clay.
Zverev, 27, arrives in Paris on the back of lifting the Rome Open title last weekend.
"I'm going to play the French Open thinking that I can give my all, 100 per cent," said Nadal after a second round exit in Rome last week.
As well as 14 titles in Paris, Nadal can boast a record of 112 wins and just three losses, two of which came against Djokovic who will be chasing a fourth French Open title.
