By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 4, 2016
Juan Martin del Potro denied Novak Djokovic the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and looms as the top seed's first obstacle in Rio.
Photo credit: Zimbio
Juan Martin del Potro denied Novak Djokovic the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The 2009 US Open champion poses an immediate obstacle in Djokovic's road to striking gold in Rio.
More: Michael Phelps in Awe of Djokovic
Singles and doubles draws for the Olympic tennis tournament were posted today. See full draws here.
The Olympic tennis tournament starts on Saturday at the Olympic Tennis Centre and concludes on Sunday, August 14th. The complete Olympic tennis schedule is here.
The draw presents Déjà vu for Djokovic.
The world No. 1 opens against del Potro, who defeated Djokovic, 7-5, 6-4, to clinch the bronze medal on the grass of the All England Club four years ago.
This will be their first meeting in nearly three years.
Djokovic has won 11 of 14 meetings with del Potro, including a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory at the 2013 Wimbledon in an outrageously entertaining Centre Court shootout that was the longest Wimbledon men's semifinal in history.
Since then, Djokovic has gone on to dominant the game, while del Potro has endured multiple wrist surgeries.
Ongoing wrist issues have prompted del Potro to play the one-handed slice backhand more than his customary two-hander, but even with that concession the powerful Argentine upset Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon before losing to Lucas Pouille in the third round.
No reigning men's world No. 1 has won the Olympic singles gold medal. If the seeds hold true to form, Djokovic would face 14th-seeded American Jack Sock in the third round followed by a quarterfinal versus fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.
Rafael Nadal, who has been sidelined since withdrawing from Roland Garros due to a tendon injury in his left wrist, plans to launch his comeback in Rio playing singles and doubles and finds himself in the same half of the draw as Djokovic.
The 2008 Olympic gold-medal champion will serve as Spanish flag-bearer.
"For me being Spain's flag bearer on Friday means a reward to many years of work, motivation and passion put in every day of practice and competition," Nadal said. "As I've said may times, I'm very grateful to those who thought I was the right person to carry the flag in these Games. For me it is going to be a great satisfaction and I'm very excited about it."
The third-seeded Nadal opens against Argentine left-hander Federico Delbonis. Nadal has surrendered just seven games in two prior matches with Delbonis. The winner of that first-round clash will face either Italian Andreas Seppi or Ukrainian Illya Marchenko in round two.
No. 8-seeded David Goffin and 15th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who opens against the dangerous Borna Coric are also quarterfinal threats in the top half of the draw.
Empowered by his Wimbledon triumph, Andy Murray will try to defend the gold medal he won four years ago with a crushing conquest of Roger Federer.
The second-seed made history before the Games began: Murray is the first tennis player in history to lead Team GB as flag bearer.
Murray owns a commanding 7-0 record against first-round opponent and Djokovic practice partner Viktor Troicki, including winning all six sets they've played on hard court.
Should seeds hold true to form, Murray would meet seventh-seeded David Ferrer in the bottom quarterfinal.
Washington, DC champion Gael Monfils, who is 3-0 against first-round opponent Vasek Pospisil, including a straight-sets win in Toronto last week, could play fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori in the other quarterfinal.
Nishikori knocked off Stan Wawrinka en route to the Toronto final where he fell to Djokovic.
Former US Open champion Marin Cilic plays former Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov in a notable first-round clash in the bottom half of the draw. The pair have split two prior meetings.