Djokovic, Alcaraz and Swiatek start gold chase with wins
Men’s top seed Novak Djokovic began his fifth Olympic Games with an emphatic victory over Australia’s Matthew Ebden after women’s favourite Iga Swiatek launched her bid for gold with a straight sets win at a rain-drenched Roland Garros on Saturday.
Serbia’s Djokovic, chasing the Olympic title that has proved so elusive during a career that has earned him 24 Grand Slam titles, sauntered to a 6-0 6-1 win against a player only handed a spot in the draw as a late alternate.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz was also presented with a comfortable first-round draw against Lebanese alternate Hady Habib, but was at least given a workout in a 6-3 6-1 win.
Poland’s Swiatek opened proceedings under the closed Court Philippe Chatrier 50 days after winning her fourth French Open on the same arena and had to battle back in the second set against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu to win 6-2 7-5.
“I’m happy that I’m through because first rounds are never easy, especially at the Olympics,” top seed Swiatek told reporters after matching her run to the second round in Tokyo.
“The atmosphere was a little bit different and I was a little bit more nervous as well.”
The opening day of tennis was disrupted by rain with thousands of fans without tickets for the two main show courts frustrated after braving long queues to get in.
No play was possible on the uncovered courts until at least 5pm local time, but the big medal prospects had no such worries.
Djokovic has suffered some heart-breaking Olympic disappointments, twice losing in singles semi-finals, with his only medal being a singles bronze in Beijing in 2008.
The 37-year-old could not have asked for an easier start in his bid to fill the one empty space in his trophy cabinet.
It was little more than a gentle workout for Djokovic against the 36-year-old Ebden who got the biggest cheer when he celebrated winning his first game at 4-0 down in the second set.
Things may get tougher very quickly for the Serb who could play 14-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal in round two.
Alcaraz’s first-round doubles alongside Nadal against Argentine duo Maximo Gonzales and Andres Molteni was likely to be the main highlight of the opening day.
The 21-year-old Alcaraz arrived in Paris bidding for a French Open-Wimbledon-Olympic hat-trick and made a solid enough start in beating the 275th-ranked Habib.