History made! Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are ALL placed on same side of the draw for first time ever at French Open as repeat of 2020 final is ruled out with Serb and Spaniard due to meet in semis
- Both men’s and women’s main draw has been made for the 2021 French Open
- Last year’s men’s finalists Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic are set to meet in semis
- Swiss icon Roger Federer is on the same side of the draw, but lacks match fitness
For the first time in history the big three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer find themselves all in the same half of a Grand Slam draw after the French Open was set on Thursday.
Thirteen-times champion Nadal and Djokovic are on course for a titanic semi-final in Paris due to the strict adherence of the seeding process to the current rankings.
Although Russian Daniil Medvedev has had a torrid time on clay this year, his hard court results see him as world No 2 above Nadal, thereby facilitating the potential clash of the two favourites before the final.
Novak Djokovic has been placed in the same side of the French Open draw as rival Rafa Nadal
Federer, No 8 in the semi-frozen listings in spite of having played so little, could meet Djokovic in the quarter final, if he got that far.
The cluster of the big names means that there is everything to play for as far as the younger challengers are concerned, with Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex Zverev all having a path to the final in the opposite half.
The in-form Cam Norrie could meet Nadal in the third round, the same stage at which he played him in February’s Australian Open.
Dan Evans will take on 21 year-old Serb Miomir Kecmanovic, who is at home on the clay.
It means that there is no prospect of a repeat of last year’s final between Nadal and the Serb
In what is a more open women’s field, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, holder of the last two majors, was given a first round draw against Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig.
We will not be able to ascertain her thoughts about it after she announced, late on Wednesday, that she will not be talking to the media during the tournament, maintaining that being available for questions is injurious to her mental health.
She will accept the fines for skipping post match conferences, which can rise up to £14,000 ($20,000).
‘I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me,’ she said.
With Harriet Dart falling in the final round of qualifying on Thursday to Taipei’s Liang En Shuo, 2019 semi-finalist Jo Konta and Heather Watson are GB’s only female singles representatives.
The 39-year-old Roger Federer is also on the same side of the draw, but is lacking match fitness
Konta has a tough starter against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea while Watson will face Kazakhstan’s Zarina Dyas.
Britain’s modest turnout was confirmed on the day that the Lawn Tennis Association’s annual report revealed that it had managed to restrict its losses last year to £1.8million in the face of the pandemic.
It emerges from the figures that despite another huge grant from Wimbledon the LTA still took £1.2m off the taxpayer in the form of furlough payments.
The organisation’s staffing levels became even more bloated, with 49 extra employees taken on, pushing the overall number on the payroll to 328.