PARIS:
Just two weeks after Wimbledon, the stars of tennis switch from grass back to the clay of Roland Garros, home of the French Open, in pursuit of Olympic gold.
Two-time singles gold medallist Andy Murray will retire from the sport once his tournament ends while Rafael Nadal, another two-time champion, looks to successfully exploit the surface which brought him 14 Grand Slam titles.
In a tennis dream team, Nadal will also partner Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles.
AFP Sport looks at three talking points ahead of Olympics tennis events which start on Saturday.
Former world number one and three-time Grand Slam title winner Andy Murray will call it quits in Paris after almost two decades on tour.
Now ranked at 121, and playing with a metal hip since 2019, time has caught up with the 37-year-old who suffered ankle damage this year and underwent surgery to remove a cyst from his spine which ruled him out of singles at Wimbledon.
“I want to play forever, I love the sport and it’s given me so much. It’s taught me loads of lessons over the years I can use for the rest of my life. I don’t want to stop so it is hard,” admitted Murray.
Murray won gold at the 2012 Olympics on an emotional day at the All England Club where he defeated Roger Federer just weeks after he had lost the Wimbledon final to the Swiss on the same Centre Court.
Four years later, he defeated Juan Martin del Potro to become the first player, male or female, to win two Olympic singles golds.
Nadal captured Olympic singles gold in 2008 at Beijing before adding the doubles title alongside Marc Lopez in Rio eight years later.
Now 38, Nadal has been plagued by injuries which have limited him to six tournaments this year and seen his ranking slip to 161.
At the weekend, he reached his first final since 2022 but his run at Bastad in Sweden saw him finish runner-up to Portuguese journeyman Nuno Borges.
“The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too,” admitted Nadal.
Nadal has collected 14 of his 22 majors at Roland Garros, losing just four times in 116 matches.
His 2024 campaign, however, ended in the first round at the hands of defending Olympic champion Alexander Zverev.
Nadal will also play Olympics doubles with French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz who was only two when his compatriot won his first Roland Garros title in 2005.
Tennis has been a regular battleground of flashpoints between Ukraine and rivals from Russia and Belarus since Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Ukraine players have consistently refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents, sparking bitter recriminations on the court and often bewilderment amongst spectators.
Marta Kostyuk blasted fans at Roland Garros as “embarrassing” for booing her when she opted not to shake the hand of Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 French Open.
Compatriot Elina Svitolina justified her stance by insisting she won’t “sell her country for likes”.
At the Paris Olympics, Russian players can only compete as neutrals if they have convinced Games chiefs that they have not publically supported the war.
However, Elena Vesnina is one of a number of tennis players heading for Paris who has, according to a report by Global Rights Compliance, a Hague-based human rights foundation, expressed support for the invasion.
Vesnina, a doubles gold medallist in Rio in 2016 who was born in Ukraine, “liked” posts about “military feats” of Russian soldiers killing Ukrainians and posts displaying the pro-war “Z” symbol, the report said.
