Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd

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Novak Djokovic opened his bid for a first Olympic gold medal with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at Roland Garros that could set up a second-round matchup with longtime rival Rafael Nadal.

No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, also opened with an easy 6-3, 6-1 victory over Lebanon's Hady Habib.

Serbia's Djokovic, who is seeded No. 1 in the men's field after Jannik Sinner pulled out with tonsillitis, needed less than an hour to dismiss Australia's Matthew Ebden, a doubles player participating in a tour-level singles match for the first time in two years.

Top seed Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion from Serbia, easily beat Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round of the Olympic men's tennis tournament. Divyakant Solanki/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Ebden got into the singles bracket because he was in Paris to play doubles and thus available when 16th-ranked Holger Rune of Denmark withdrew with an injured wrist.

Ebden's lone game came after he was already down 6-0, 4-0 -- and he celebrated by pulling the front of his yellow shirt over his head and baring his chest to roars from the flag-dotted crowd.

Djokovic has endured some Olympic disappointments, twice losing in the semifinals, with his only medal being a singles bronze in Beijing in 2008.

Nadal, the Spaniard who won a record 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles at the French Open and owns two Summer Games golds, is scheduled to play his opening singles match Sunday. He was a surprise torch carrier during the rain-soaked opening ceremony along the Seine on Friday night and was slated to compete alongside Alcaraz in doubles Saturday night.

Day 1 of tennis began with showers that might have contributed to slow lines for umbrella-toting spectators at the facility's security checks near entrances and postponed by at least 4½ hours the start of matches at the 10 courts without retractable roofs.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd

Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd

Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd

Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd

Djokovic starts quest for gold, eyes Nadal in 2nd