Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa enter mixed doubles at Roland Garros
Given a wild card, the recently reunited Greek and Spaniard will face Ena Shibahara and Nathaniel Lammons.
PARIS—Even in an Olympic year, mixed doubles tends to be overlooked at the majors. But this year's dual-gender tournament at Roland Garros has two things going for it.
First, it will take place at the very venue in which the tennis event will be staged in a few months' time. It's unclear which teams in the draw will vie for the medal podium, but exactly half of the 32 mixed teams feature compatriots. That includes the top seeds, Australians Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden, and the third seeds, Dutch players Demi Schurrs and Wesley Koolhof.
But second—and probably more notable—is that this mixed doubles draw will feature the return of tennis power couple Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa.
Given a wild card, the recently reunited Greek and Spaniard will face Ena Shibahara and Nathaniel Lammons.
"Paris holds a special place in our heart," Tsitsipas said Wednesday on France Télévisions, noting that it's where they had their first date. "It was a no-brainer, to play our first mixed doubles here at Roland Garros."
Asked about her "comeback with Stefanos" in press before the tournament, Badosa preferred to let their racquets do the talking.
"Well, he already said everything. It's pretty clear. The relationship is working very well now," she said. "He already explained. I have nothing else to say.
"I mean, it's already our private life. I think one of the things that I didn't like or we didn't like is that it was very public, so now we want to keep things a little bit more on our own. I still understand that it's not going to be easy because we are two public people, public person, and people will ask, but we want to keep it more for ourselves because it's never easy to combine our careers to that.
"Let's just try to keep it simple for both of us, because I think it helps and it's healthier."
In singles, Badosa will face Katie Boulter in a high-profile first-rounder, while Tsitsipas is already into the second round after a three-set victory over Marton Fucsovics.
The Monte Carlo champion and world No. 9 is a bonafide title contender, considering the uncertainty atop the men's game. But the 25-year-old remained deferential after his victory.
"There is not one particular player that is perhaps—you know, like thinking about it now, I would say probably it's Novak Djokovic is still the favorite, because he has won here a few times," said Tsitsipas in a brief press conference. "I would still believe that he's considered someone, despite maybe not the best results from his side in the last few weeks in terms of we were used to Djokovic winning almost every week, and it hasn't happened in the last few weeks. But I still consider him the favorite.
"Obviously Carlos Alcaraz always remains the favorite, and so does Jannik Sinner. I feel like these are opponents that can play all-around equally on all surfaces, and they have incredible shots and of course speed on the court. They have what it takes to play good on clay. And a few other players that I haven't mentioned, as well."
Tsitsipas will next face Daniel Altmaier in singles and, alongside brother Petros, John-Patrick Smith and Denys Molchanov in doubles. But while it's the later rounds of Tsitsipas' singles run that will capture the most attention, it's all systems go on Tsitsidosa watch in the mixed.