Nadal faces Zverev at farewell French Open

PARIS, May 23 (AFP): Rafael Nadal will face world number four Alexander Zverev in a blockbuster first round match at his farewell French Open while women's champion Iga Swiatek and fellow four-time major winner Naomi Osaka are on a second round collision course.

Defending men's champion and 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will face French veteran Pierre Hugues-Herbert in his opener.

Nadal, who has won Roland Garros on 14 occasions, is unseeded after injury saw his ranking plummet to 276.

He and Zverev met in the semi-finals in 2022 when the German was forced to retire after suffering a serious ankle injury.

Nadal, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, will turn 38 next week and this season will be his last on tour.

He holds a 7-3 winning head-to-head record against Germany's Zverev with five of those victories coming on clay.

Zverev, 27, arrives in Paris on the back of lifting the Rome Open title last weekend.