{"id":15431,"date":"2024-05-28T13:47:22","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T05:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/24hscore.org\/news\/?p=15431"},"modified":"2024-05-28T13:47:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T05:47:27","slug":"rafael-nadal-alexander-zverev-to-face-off-in-opening-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/tennis\/rafael-nadal-alexander-zverev-to-face-off-in-opening-match\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal Set to Clash with Alexander Zverev in Opening Match of Farewell French Open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The draw for the French Open has set up a captivating opening match between Rafael Nadal (37) and world number four Alexander Zverev (27), marking Nadal&#8217;s final appearance at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nadal, the unparalleled 14-time champion at Roland Garros, finds himself unseeded this year due to injuries that have seen his ranking drop to 276.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The duo previously met in the semi-finals of the 2022 French Open, where Zverev was forced to retire after sustaining a severe ankle injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tennis Result<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here we go again ?<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RolandGarros?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#RolandGarros<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/E4nUb2Vqi1\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/E4nUb2Vqi1<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rtNGaGKXjP\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/rtNGaGKXjP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rolandgarros\/status\/1793625435596538216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 23, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Nadal, a holder of 22 Grand Slam titles, approaches his 38th birthday next week, this season marks his farewell tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their head-to-head encounters, Nadal boasts a 7-3 winning record against the German, with five victories coming on clay courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zverev arrives in Paris fresh off his triumph at the Rome Open last weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic will commence his pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam title against local contender Pierre-Hugues Herbert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Djokovic has faced challenges in the first half of 2024 and remains title-less this year. His campaign in the Italian Open ended prematurely in the third round following a peculiar head injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"in\" dir=\"ltr\">Potential women\u2019s singles quarterfinals ?<br> <br>(1) Swiatek vs Vondrousova (5)<br>(2) Sabalenka vs Sakkari (6)<br>(3) Gauff vs Jabeur (8)<br>(4) Rybakina vs Zheng (7)<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RolandGarros?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#RolandGarros<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rolandgarros\/status\/1793619977062539617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 23, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The world&#8217;s top-ranked player, currently participating in the Geneva Open, aims to leave past disappointments behind and rejuvenate his season in Paris, where a potential quarter-final rematch against Casper Ruud awaits him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two-time Grand Slam winner and last year&#8217;s semi-finalist Carlos Alcaraz will kick off against a qualifier, while newly-crowned Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner is set to take on American Christopher Eubanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swiatek and Osaka in Potential Second-Round Showdown<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defending champion Iga Swiatek and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka could collide in the second round of the French Open following the draw announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swiatek, the top seed and world number one, will face a qualifier in her opener, while Osaka is slated to play against Lucia Bronzetti of Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swiatek, aiming for her fifth major and fourth French Open title, expressed her comfort on the Parisian clay after clinching titles in Madrid and Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Osaka, ranked 134, seeks to navigate past her past struggles in Paris, while Bronzetti, ranked 48th, eyes her first main draw victory at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tournament holds significance for Osaka, who faced fines and withdrew from the 2021 edition, citing mental health concerns. She missed the 2023 event due to pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Swiatek&#8217;s aspirations include securing a historic third consecutive women&#8217;s title in Paris, a feat not achieved since Justine Henin in 2007. She also aims to join the elite club of Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, and Henin with four Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen titles in the Open era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other notable matchups include Aryna Sabalenka versus Erika Andreeva and Elena Rybakina against Belgium&#8217;s Greet Minnen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">US Open champion Coco Gauff, a finalist at the 2022 French Open, will start against a qualifier and could potentially face Ons Jabeur in a thrilling quarter-final showdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The draw for the French Open has set up a captivating opening match between Rafael Nadal (37) and world number four Alexander Zverev (27), marking Nadal&#8217;s final appearance at Roland Garros. Nadal, the unparalleled 14-time champion at Roland Garros, finds himself unseeded this year due to injuries that have seen his ranking drop to 276&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","rank_math_description":"The draw for the French Open has set up a captivating opening match between Rafael Nadal (37) and world number four Alexander Zverev.","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4372,2660,3381,2778,3718,2886,2419,255,19,260],"class_list":["post-15431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-bronzetti-lucia","tag-djokovic-novak","tag-eubanks-christopher","tag-french-open-atp-singles","tag-french-open-wta-singles","tag-nadal-rafael","tag-osaka-naomi","tag-swiatek-iga","tag-tennis","tag-zverev-alexander"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15447,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15431\/revisions\/15447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/24hscore.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}