PARIS — Rafael Nadal's most recent matches were a loss to Roger Federer and a four-hour struggle to beat Novak Djokovic, both on clay, so the French Open draw brought a bit of good news Friday for the four-time defending champion.
Federer and Djokovic are lined up to meet in the semifinals, meaning the top-seeded Nadal could only face one as he bids to become the first man to win the clay-court Grand Slam tournament five consecutive years.
Not that Nadal is looking ahead to a potential final against one of those two. Or even a possible semifinal against No. 3 Andy Murray. Indeed, the Spaniard won't even acknowledge he feels any sort of pressure to add to his 28-0 record at Roland Garros, where play starts Sunday.
"My only pressure is try to play good tennis, try to play well, and later we will see what happens, no?" Nadal said. "The tournament is always really tough. Long matches, against the best players of the world, no⢠So we will see."
Serena and Venus Williams were drawn into opposite sides of the tournament and could meet in the championship match. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 final for the family's only singles title at Roland Garros; they have won 16 majors elsewhere.
Top-ranked Dinara Safina starts against Anne Keothavong of Britain.
Federer reiterated yesterday that he got "a big boost" from winning last weekend's Madrid Open final, ending Nadal's 33-match winning streak on clay. Djokovic, meanwhile, derives confidence from having held three match points in a narrow semifinal loss to Nadal in Madrid.
"Getting closer and closer. So there's only one more point to go," said Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open champion. "I played probably one of the best matches in my life against him on the clay court, even though I lost it. I must be proud of myself."
Federer, too, took heart from seeing what happened in that semifinal.
"When someone dominates a surface like Rafa does, it's good to see that he almost lost to Djokovic — that it's doable, if you play well," Federer said. "If each year he wins 40 matches on clay, and you never manage to beat him, it's obvious that you become more pessimistic."
Federer's bid to win his first French Open championship — and tie Pete Sampras with a record 14th major singles title — will start against Alberto Martin of Spain.
Nadal was drawn to face a qualifier in the first round and could meet two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt in the third, then 14th-seeded David Ferrer in the fourth. Hewitt's first match is against No. 26 Ivo Karlovic, the 6-foot-11 player from Croatia who upset him in the first round at Wimbledon in 2003, when Hewitt was the reigning champion.
Murray's first opponent is Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, a 2004 French Open quarterfinalist whose four career tour titles all came on clay and who once was ranked 15th. Chela missed the past three major tournaments because of a herniated disc.
"He's obviously a tough clay-court player," Murray said. "Definitely can't afford to look past him."
The potential men's quarterfinals are Nadal vs. No. 8 Fernando Verdasco in what would be rematch of a five-set thriller in the Australian Open semis, Murray vs. No. 7 Gilles Simon, Federer vs. No. 6 Andy Roddick, and Djokovic vs. No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro.
The possible women's quarterfinals are Safina vs. defending champion Ana Ivanovic, No. 2 Serena Williams vs. No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 3 Venus Williams vs. No. 6 Vera Zvonareva, and No. 4 Elena Dementieva vs. No. 5 Jelena Jankovic.
Maria Sharapova will play Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus in her first Grand Slam match since Wimbledon last year. Sharapova returned to the tour this week after missing nearly 10 months due to a shoulder injury and is not seeded.
Serena Williams will meet Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in the first round, while Venus faces Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States.
Serena won the last two Grand Slam tournaments but has lost her past four matches while dealing with a bad knee.
"I don't think I'm the favorite coming in," she said. "I'm glad to be here more than anything."
French Open draw
MEN
Rafael Nadal (1), Spain, vs. q-Marcos Daniel, Brazil
Igor Kunitsyn, Russia, vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili, Russia
Denis Gremelmayr, Germany, vs. Andrey Golubev, Kazakhstan
Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, vs. Ivo Karlovic (26), Croatia
Robin Soderling (23), Sweden, vs. Kevin Kim, United States
Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. q-Santiago Giraldo, Colombia
q-Ilja Bozoljac, Serbia, vs. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany
Frederico Gil, Portugal, vs. David Ferrer (14), Spain
Nikolay Davydenko (10), Russia, vs. Stefan Koubek, Austria
Diego Junquiera, Argentina, vs. Paul Capdeville, Chile
Nicolas Massu, Chile, vs. Daniel Koellerer, Austria
Nicolas Devilder, France, vs. Stanislas Wawrinka (17), Switzerland
Nicolas Almagro (31), Spain, vs. Agustin Calleri, Argentina
Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, vs. Sam Querrey, United States
q-Peter Polonsky, Canada, vs. Philipp Petzschner, Germany
Florent Serra, France, vs. Fernando Verdasco (8), Spain
Andy Murray (3), Britain, vs. Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina
Mischa Zverev, Germany, vs. Potito Starace, Italy
Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, vs. Albert Montanes, Spain
q-Franco Ferreiro, Brazil, vs. Feliciano Lopez (28), Spain
Radek Stepanek (18), Czech Republic, vs. wc-Gaston Gadio, Argentina
Yen-Hsun Lu, Taiwan, vs. ll-Mathieu Montcourt, France
Dudi Sela, Israel, vs. q-Jean-Rene Lisnard, Monaco
Jan Hernych, Czech Republic, vs. Marin Cilic (13), Croatia
Fernando Gonzalez (12), Chile, vs. q-Jiri Vanek, Czech Republic
q-Rui Machado, Portugal, vs. Kristof Vliegen, Belgium
Marcel Granollers, Spain, vs. wc-Josselin Ouanna, France
wc-Alexandre Sidorenko, France, vs. Marat Safin (20), Russia
Victor Hanescu (30), Romania, vs. Stever Darcis, Belgium
Mikhail Youzhny, Russia, vs. Gilles Muller, Luxembourg
q-Daniel Brands, Germany, vs. Robert Kendrick, United States
Wayne Odesnik, United States, vs. Gilles Simon (7), France
Juan Martin del Potro (5), Argentina, vs. Michael Llodra, France
Viktor Troicki, Serbia, vs. q-Lukasz Kubot, Poland
Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, vs. Martin Vassallo Arguello, Argentina
q-Fabio Fognini, Italy, vs. Igor Andreev (25), Russia
Dmitry Tursunov (21), Russia, vs. Arnaud Clement, France
Fabrice Santoro, France, vs. Christophe Rochus, Belgium
Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus, vs. Juan Monaco, Argentina
Julien Benneteau, France, vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (9), France
Tommy Robredo (16), Spain, vs. wc-Adrian Mannarino, France
Evgeny Korolev, Russia, vs. Daniel Gimeno Traver, Spain
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain, vs. Andreas Seppi, Italy
Maximo Gonzalez, Argentina, vs. Mardy Fish (22), United States
Philipp Kohlschreiber (29), Germany, vs. wc-Bernard Tomic, Australia
Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain, vs. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia
Brian Dabul, Argentina, vs. q-Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine
Nicolas Lapentti, Ecuador, vs. Novak Djokovic (4), Serbia
Andy Roddick (6), United States, vs. wc-Romain Jouan, France
Oscar Hernandez, Spain, vs. Ivo Minar, Czech Republic
Ivan Navarro, Spain, vs. Andreas Beck, Germany
Marc Gicquel, France, vs. Rainer Schuettler (27), Germany
Jurgen Melzer (24), Austria, vs. Sergio Roitman, Argentina
wc-Guillaume Rufin, France, vs. Eduardo Schwank, Argentina
q-Victor Crivoi, Romania, vs. q-Simon Greul, Germany
Bobby Reynolds, United States, vs. Gael Monfils (11), France
James Blake (15), United States, vs. q-Leonardo Mayer, Argentina
Andrei Pavel, Romania, vs. Tommy Haas, Germany
Bjorn Phau, Germany, vs. Jeremy Chardy, France
Simone Bolelli, Italy, Tomas Berdych (19), Czech Republic
Paul-Henri Mathieu (32), France, vs. wc-Laurent Recouderc, France
Robby Ginepri, United States, vs. Pablo Andujar, Spain
Jose Acasuso, Argentina, vs. q-Santiago Ventura, Spain
Alberto Martin, Spain, vs. Roger Federer (2), Switzerland
WOMEN
Dinara Safina (1), Russia, vs. Anne Keothavong, Britain
q-Vitalia Diatchenko, Russia, vs. Mathilde Johansson, France
Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spain, vs. Julie Coin, France
Ioana Raluca Olaru, Romania, vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27), Russia
Alisa Kleybanova (23), Russia vs. q-Polona Hercog, Slovenia
Ai Sugiyama, Japan, vs. Aravane Rezai, France
q-Michelle Larcher de Brito, Portugal, vs. Melanie South, Britain
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, France, vs. Zheng Jie (15), China
Victoria Azarenka (9), Belarus, vs. Roberta Vinci, Italy
Maria-Emilia Salerni, Argentina, vs. Kristina Barrois, Germany
q-Yvonne Meusburger, Austria, vs. Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic
Edina Gallovits, Romania, vs. Carla Suarez Navarro (22), Spain
Iveta Benesova (32), Czech Republic, vs. Julia Goerges, Germany
Varvara Lepchenko, United States, vs. Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia
Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand, vs. Camille Pin, France
Sara Errani, Italy, vs. Ana Ivanovic (8), Serbia
Venus Williams (3), United States, vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States
Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, vs. Sabine Lisicki, Germany
Elena Vesnina, Russia, vs. Severine Bremond Beltrame, France
q-Corinna Dentoni, Italy, vs. Agnes Szavay (29), Hungary
Dominika Cibulkova (20), Slovakia, vs. Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine
Stephanie Foretz, France, vs. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium
Tamira Paszek, Austria, vs. Gisela Dulko, Argentina
Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, vs. Amelie Mauresmo (16), France
Nadia Petrova (11), Russia, vs. wc-Lauren Embree, United States
Anastasiya Yakimova, Belarus, vs. Maria Sharapova, Russia
wc-Olivia Sanchez, France, vs. q-Arantxa Rus, Netherlands
q-Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan, vs. Kaia Kanepi (19), Estonia
Li Na (25), China, vs. Marta Domachowska, Poland
wc-Emilie Loit, France, vs. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland
wc-Irena Pavlovic, France, vs. Akgul Amanmuradova, Uzbekistan
Olga Govortsova, Belarus, vs. Vera Zvonareva (6), Russia
Jelena Jankovic (5), Serbia, vs. Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic
Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, vs. wc-Kristina Mladenovic, France
Jarmila Groth, Australia, vs. wc-Kinnie Laisne, France
ll-Mariana Duque Marino, Colombia, vs. Anna Chakvetadze (26), Russia
Alize Cornet (21), France, vs. Maret Ani, Estonia
q-Carly Gullickson, United States, vs. Sorana Cirstea, Romania
Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, vs. Jill Craybas, United States
Vera Dushevina, Russia, vs. Caroline Wozniacki (10), Denmark
Marion Bartoli (13), France, vs. Pauline Parmentier, France
Tathiana Garbin, Italy, vs. Ayumi Morita, Japan
Virginie Razzano, France, vs. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, vs. Anabel Medina Garrigues (18), Spain
Samantha Stosur (30), Australia, vs. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, vs. Urszula Radwanska, Poland
Jelena Dokic, Australia, vs. Karolina Sprem, Croatia
q-Chanelle Scheepers, South Africa, vs. Elena Dementieva (4), Russia
Svetlana Kuznetsova (7), Russia, vs. wc-Claire Feuerstein, France
Galina Voskoboeva, Kazakhstan, vs. Sania Mirza, India
q-Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia, vs. Melinda Czink, Hungary
Nathalie Dechy, France, vs. Sybille Bammer (28), Austria
Patty Schnyder (17), Switzerland, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine
wc-Olivia Rogowska, Australia, vs. Maria Kirilenko, Russia
Patricia Mayr, Austria, vs. Mariya Koryttseva, Ukraine
Rossana de Los Rios, Paraguay, vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (12), Poland
Flavia Pennetta (14), Italy, vs. Alexa Glatch, United States
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain
Mara Santangelo, Italy, vs. q-Petra Martic, Croatia
Monica Niculescu, Romania, vs. Aleksandra Wozniak (24), Canada
Peng Shuai (31), China, vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain
Viktoriya Kutuzova, Ukraine, vs. q-Zuzana Ondraskova, Czech Republic
Virginia Ruano Pascual, Spain, vs. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic
Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic, vs. Serena Williams (2), United States
Note: q-qualifier; wc-wild card; ll-lucky loser
