Leylah Fernandez, of Laval, Que., faces a tough first-round match in the women’s singles at the Paris Olympics
The Paris Games organizers conducted the draws for the five Olympic tennis brackets on Thursday.
Fernandez, the 16th seed, will play Czech player Karolina Muchova, a 2023 French Open finalist, in the first round on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Muchova, ranked 29th in the world, won their only previous encounter in 2022 on hard courts in Miami. Bianca Andreescu, of Mississauga, will play Denmark’s Clara Tauson, ranked 63rd in the world, in the first round.
In the men’s draw, Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, the 13th seed, will start his campaign against American Marcos Giron, ranked 38th. Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals in Gstaad, Switzerland last week and had a strong clay court season, including a final at the Madrid Masters and a round of 16 at Roland Garros. The 24-year-old has won three of his four previous matches against Giron.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic could meet his long-time rival Rafael Nadal in the second round of the tournament. Djokovic was drawn Thursday against Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal faces Hungaraian Marton Fucsovics, with the winners of those matches meeting in Round 2. The 38-year-old Nadal won a record 14 of his 22 major trophies at the French Open. He won gold in singles at Beijing in 2008, and in doubles with Marc Lopez at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Auger-Aliassime, who lost in the first round of singles at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, will also compete in men’s doubles with Milos Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., and in mixed doubles with Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski. Raonic and Auger-Aliassime will face Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, the third seeds, in the first round. Dabrowski and Auger-Aliassime will play against the British duo of Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury.
Fernandez and Dabrowski, a winner of 16 women’s doubles titles, will play France’s Clara Burel and Varvara Gracheva in the first round of the women’s doubles. The Canadians are the seeded fifth. Raonic, 33, participating in his first Olympics since London 2012, will face Germany’s Dominik Koepfer in the men’s singles.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faces Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the first round of the women’s draw with second-seeded American Coco Gauff taking on Australian Ajla Tomljanovi.
Gauff is the reigning U.S. Open champion and is making her Olympic debut. She is a flag-bearer for the U.S. team at Friday’s opening ceremony along with basketball star LeBron James. She will be the first tennis athlete to carry the U.S. flag.
Canada has won only one Olympic tennis medal when Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor triumphed in the men’s doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. However, the country has been experiencing a surge on the international stage in team events. The men’s team won the Davis Cup in 2022, and the women’s team lifted the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023.
The first-round match schedule will be announced on Friday with the competition starting Monday.