Olympic Games. Fognini, Sonego, Musetti: the blue hunt for the medal in tennis starts

Here are the Olympic draws: Fabio, seeded number 15, faces the Japanese Sugita, for the two Lorenzo there are Daniel and Millman. The numbers one Djokovic and Barty make their debut against Dellien and Sorribes. What obstacles for women

From our correspondent Riccardo Crivelli

July 22nd
– Tokyo–

Draw the draws of the tennis tournaments that will begin on the Italian night between 23 and 24 July at Ariake Park, a facility much appreciated by players but where heat and humidity will play a fundamental role. The first seeded singles are also the number one in the world, Novak Djokovic among men and Ashleigh Barty among women: the Serbian chases the fourth goal of the season in Tokyo (and the first Olympic gold after the 2008 bronze) that would follow the triumphs in Australia, at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and before attempting to climb the Grand Slam in New York. In history, only Steffi Graf in 1988 achieved the Golden Slam, that is the success in the same year in the four Majors and at the Games, while among the men only Agassi and Nadal have won the five titles, but in different seasons.

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Men

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64-player draw: Djokovic will make his debut against Bolivian Dellien and on his side is seeded number 4 Zverev. Probable eighth against the Spaniard Davidovich Fokina, but we Italians hope there can be Musetti, who in the first round finds the stingy Australian Millman and then precisely the winner between the Spaniard and the Portuguese Sousa. In the same segment of the board there is also Sonego, number 13, engaged in the first round against the Japanese Daniel: in the second round he could meet Zverev. Among the most interesting first round matches in this part, the match between the Polish Hurkacz, semifinalist at Wimbledon, and the Hungarian Fucsovics. The other part of the scoreboard is obviously manned by the number 2 seed Medvedev, who makes his debut against the unpredictable Kazakh Bublik, while Tsitsipas, seed number 3, finds Kohlschreiber. In this segment Fognini, 15 of the seeding, immediately finds the Japanese Sugita, then awaits the winner between Simon and Gerasimov before Medvedev. The match between Murray, winner of the last two Olympic gold medals, and the Canadian Auger-Aliassime, is perhaps the most anticipated of the whole first round. In the doubles, the blue couple Musetti-Sonego face the Spaniards Andujar / Carballes Baena on their debut, but immediately afterwards they should find the favorites, the Croatians Mektic and Pavic.

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The possible eighths from top to bottom

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Djokovic (1) c. Davidovich Fokina (Spa, 16) Monfils (Fra, 10) c. Rublev (Rus, 5) Zverev (Ger, 4) c. SONEGO Karatsev (Rus, 11) c. Hurkacz (Pol, 7) Schwartzman (Arg) c. Khachanov (Rus) Humbert (Fra, 14) c. Tsitsipas (Gre, 3) Carreno Busta (Spa, 6) c. Auger-Aliassime (Can, 9) FOGNINI (15) c. Medvedev (Rus, 2)

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Women

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The number one Barty makes her debut against the Spanish Sorribes, complicated draws for the blue, all against seeds: Errani immediately finds the finalist of Roland Garros Pavlyuchenkova, number 15; Paolini the Czech Kvitova, number 10 and Giorgi the number 11 Brady (USA). No blue pair in doubles.

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