Paris Olympic tennis draws: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic in the second round?

Drama revealed itself just before this year's Olympic tennis draws were made—then came the draws themselves.

Thursday began with news that Andy Murray will only compete in doubles (alongside Dan Evans), and that Angelique Kerber will join her fellow three-time Grand Slam champion in retirement at Roland Garros, site of the Summer Games.

This on the heels of Wednesday's announcements that world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and world No. 16 Holger Rune would miss Paris 2024 with tonsillitis and wrist pain, respectively.

While unfortunate, the intrigue of the draws was largely unaffected. That's in part because of a notable second-rounder that could transpire in men's singles: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic.

Nadal, who just reached a clay-court final in Bastad, will need to get by Marton Fucsovics first. Djokovic, whose last competition was the Wimbledon final, will meet Matthew Ebden. Should they both prevail, the future Hall of Famers will reprise their 2008 semifinal in Beijing, which Nadal won 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. The Spaniard would go on to win gold that summer.

Djokovic, whose bronze that year remains his only Olympic medal, leads Nadal 30-29 in their career head-to-head. Their last meeting took place at Roland Garros, in the 2022 quarterfinals (Nadal won, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4)).

First-round men's singles matches of note:

• No. 17 Lorenzo Musetti vs. No. 30 Gael Monfils
• No. 11 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 25 Alexander Bublik
• No. 19 Feliz Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 38 Marcos Giron (who just won a grass-court title in Newport)
• No. 6 Alex de Minaur vs. No. 34 Jan-Lennard Struff

Carlos Alcaraz will face 275th-ranked Hady Habib, an American-born Lebanese player with 15 career ATP-level matches.

Nadal will also compete in doubles alongside Alcaraz—Raflitos? Nadalcaraz?—in a draw that features notable singles stars Stefanos Tsitsipas (with his brother Petros), Arthur Fils (with Ugo Humbert), de Minaur (with Alexei Popyrin), Musetti (with Luciano Darderi) and Daniil Medvedev (with Roman Safiullin).

Americans Fritz and Tommy Paul, both in the Top 13, will also team up. Their first-round opponents: Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic.

Murray and Evans will face Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel.

The women's singles draw offers some compelling clashes right from the jump. For Kerber to extend her career, she'll need to defeat Naomi Osaka. Yulia Putintseva, who ousted Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, will face Marta Kostyuk. Zheng Qinwen, whose experience in the spotlight at last year's Asian Games could serve as prep for these Summer Games, will face Caroline Garcia.

Opponents for the Top 4 seeds:

• No. 1 Swiatek vs. 136th-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu
• No. 2 Coco Gauff vs. 123rd-ranked Ajla Tomljanovic
• No. 3 Elena Rybakina vs. 61st-ranked Jaqueline Adina Cristian
• No. 4 Jasmine Paolini vs. 96th-ranked Ana Bogdan

Osaka and Ryabkina could collide in the second round, as well.

Poland will field a women's doubles team, but it won't include top-ranked Swiatek. Magda Linette and Alicja Rosolska will face the seventh-seeded team from Ukraine, Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska.

Americans comprise two of the top four seeded teams: No. 1 Gauff and Jessica Pegula, and No. 4 Danielle Collins and Desirae Krawczyk. Wimbledon singles champion Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are the No. 2 seeds, while Paolini—the Roland Garros and Wimbledon runner-up—and Sara Errani are seeded third.

Last but not least, mixed doubles: the top-seeded team of Alexander Zverev and Laura Siegemund will face Siniakova and Tomas Machac, while Americans Gauff and Fritz drew Kazakhs Rybakina and Bublik. (Meaning Fritz will face Bublik in two first-round matches.)

Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva, competing as "Individual Neutral Athletes," get Italy's Errani and Andrea Vavassori, whil Stefanos Tsitsipas and Greek compatriot Maria Sakkari oppose Demi Schurrs and Wesley Koolhof, from the Netherlands.