Grigor Dimitrov will begin his participation in the French Open tennis championship against the 88th in the world ranking American Aleksandar Kovacevic, it was decided by the draw for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year in Paris.
The Bulgarian is seeded number 10 in the main draw and will face the 25-year-old Kovacevic for the first time. If successful over the American, our tennis player will play Fabian Marozsan or a qualifier/lucky loser. In the third round, a probable opponent of the 33-year-old from Haskovo is the semi-finalist from Rome Alejandro Tabilo, 24th placed. Dimitrov is in the flow of the Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, who is second in the scheme and starts against another representative of the USA - Christopher Eubanks. The best ranking of Bulgaria's first racket in the French capital is the round of 16, achieved twice in 2020 and last year.
World No. 1 and last year's champion Novak Djokovic begins his title defense with a match against wild card host Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Third seed Carlos Alcaraz will play a qualifier or lucky loser at the start.
Undoubtedly, the attention of men is riveted by two clashes. 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal, for whom this is likely to be his last appearance in Paris, will open against fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who recently became champion in Rome. Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray will face each other in a match of former Slam champions. The Swiss triumphed at the tournament in 2015. Stefanos Tsitsipas, the ninth seed, has a treacherous opponent at the start – Marton Fucsovics.
On the women's side, Bulgaria's first racket Viktoriya Tomova, who has reached the semi-finals in Rabat, was given a tough draw at the start. She starts against 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia. Xinyu Wang from China or the American Taylor Townsend await Vicky in the second round if the Bulgarian eliminates Alexandrova. Tomova never got past the first hurdle in Paris, playing in the tournament's main draw for the third time in a row.
Reigning champion Iga Swiatek, who is also the leader in the world rankings, starts with a qualifier or lucky loser. Second seed Aryna Sabalenka begins with a match against 19-year-old Erika Andreeva. Coco Gauff, like Swiatek, has as a rival at the start a tennis player from the qualifiers or a lucky loser.
Roland Garros will be held from May 26 to June 9. Both the men's and women's winners will walk away with a prize check for €2,400,000 each. /BGNES
