Where does Sergio Garcia rank among Spain’s best Olympians?

By Nick ZaccardiApr 10, 2017, 9:05 AM EDT

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Miguel Indurain. Rafael Nadal. Soccer star after soccer star after soccer star.

Sergio Garcia added to Spain’s rich (recent) sporting history with his long-awaited first major title at the Masters on Sunday.

Spain sports daily Marca ranked Garcia’s Masters win the No. 92 moment in Spanish sports history.

Nos. 1-3 were Spain winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Spanish men’s basketball team winning the 2006 FIBA World Championship and Nadal’s epic 2008 Wimbledon win over Roger Federer.

Garcia certainly makes the list of Spain’s greatest Olympians, too. He tied for eighth in Rio at the first Olympic golf tournament since 1904. (Golf’s longtime absence from the Olympics meant Garcia’s Spanish idol, five-time major winner Seve Ballesteros, never got a chance to play at the Games)

Garcia would likely have to return for Tokyo 2020 — and at the very least earn a medal — to challenge the accomplishments of those in other sports named above.

The cyclist Indurain won seven Grand Tour titles, including five Tours de France, and a 1996 Olympic time trial gold medal. Alberto Contador also owns seven Grand Tour titles, with at least two titles from all three Grand Tours, but has only finished one Olympic race — fourth in the 2008 time trial.

Nadal is at 14 Grand Slam singles titles, plus that 2008 Olympic singles gold medal.

Like Garcia, some of Spain’s soccer legends never won Olympic gold — 2010 World Cup winners Iker Casillas and Andres Iniesta among them (Casillas and Iniesta never played in the Olympics, as soccer is largely an under-23 affair at the Games). Xavi and Carles Puyol were on the 2000 Olympic silver-medal-winning team.

Pau Gasol led that 2006 World Cup-winning team revered on Marca‘s list. That roster received the good fortune of the U.S. being upset by Greece in the opposite semifinal. Still, Gasol is a three-time Olympic medalist who has been among the most loyal NBA stars to his national team.

Not to be forgotten is sprint canoeist David Cal, who owns a Spanish record five Olympic medals combined from 2004, 2008 and 2012.

One more athlete that deserves mention is a Winter Olympian. Figure skater Javier Fernandez won the 2015 and 2016 World titles and next year could win Spain’s first Winter Olympic medal since 1992.

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Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz set French Open semifinal showdown

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 6:59 PM EDT

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will play in the French Open semifinals on Friday in the most anticipated match of the tournament.

Each man advanced with a quarterfinal win on Tuesday.

Djokovic, eyeing a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, rallied past 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4. The Serb reached his 45th career major semifinal, one shy of Roger Federer‘s men’s record.

Later Tuesday, top seed Alcaraz crushed fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to consolidate his status as the favorite in Friday’s showdown.

“This match, everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said. “I really wanted to play this match as well. I always say that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

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Alcaraz, who at last year’s U.S. Open became the first male teen to win a major since Rafael Nadal in 2005, is at this event the youngest man to be the top seed at a major since Boris Becker at 1987 Wimbledon.

The Djokovic-Alcaraz semifinal will produce the clear favorite for Sunday’s final given left-handed 14-time French Open champion Nadal is out this year with a hip injury and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round. Djokovic and Nadal share the record 22 men’s major titles.

Djokovic and Alcaraz met once, with Alcaraz winning last year on clay in Madrid 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5).

“[Alcaraz] brings a lot of intensity on the court,” Djokovic said, before breaking into a smile. “Reminds me of someone from his country that plays with a left hand.”

Alcaraz and Djokovic were set to be on opposite halves of the draw — and thus not able to meet until the final — until Medvedev won the last top-level clay event before the French Open to move ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. That meant Djokovic had a 50 percent chance to wind up in Alcaraz’s half, and that’s what the random draw spit out two weeks ago.

Earlier Tuesday in the first two women’s quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova advanced to face off in Thursday’s semifinals.

Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, swept Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to complete her set of semifinals in all four Grand Slams. Sabalenka will take the No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek if Swiatek loses before the final, or if Sabalenka makes the final and Swiatek does not win the title.

Svitolina, a former world No. 3, returned to competition in April from childbirth.

Muchova took out 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-2, to make her second major semifinal after the 2021 Australian Open.

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2023 French Open men’s singles draw

By OlympicTalkJun 6, 2023, 5:16 PM EDT

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The French Open men’s singles draw is missing injured 14-time champion Rafael Nadal for the first time since 2004, leaving the Coupe des Mousquetaires ripe for the taking.

The tournament airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points in Paris.

Novak Djokovic is not only bidding for a third crown at Roland Garros, but also to lift a 23rd Grand Slam singles trophy to break his tie with Nadal for the most in men’s history.

FRENCH OPEN: Broadcast Schedule | Women’s Draw

But the No. 1 seed is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s U.S. Open to become, at 19, the youngest man to win a major since Nadal’s first French Open title in 2005.

Now Alcaraz looks to become the second-youngest man to win at Roland Garros since 1989, after Nadal of course.

Alcaraz missed the Australian Open in January due to a right leg injury, but since went 30-3 with four titles. Notably, he has not faced Djokovic this year. They meet in Friday’s semifinals.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the first round by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild. It marked the first time a men’s top-two seed lost in the first round of any major since 2003 Wimbledon (Ivo Karlovic d. Lleyton Hewitt).

All of the American men lost before the fourth round. The last U.S. man to make the French Open quarterfinals was Andre Agassi in 2003.

MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open

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