U.S. Olympic team for Tokyo its second-largest in history, most women ever

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The U.S. Olympic team for Tokyo will be its second-largest in history and is set to shatter the record for most women competing for any nation at a single Games.

The USOPC announced a team of 613 athletes on Tuesday, the most in Olympic history outside of host nations.

The roster is 627 athletes if including all of the athletes who can be substituted for strategic purposes during several team events, though it’s possible some of those athletes will not be used in competition. Here is that full list of qualified athletes.

It is the second-largest Olympic team in U.S. history behind 1996, when it had 648 athletes compete, according to Olympedia.org. That year, it automatically qualified in many sports as host nation.

It’s the fourth-largest team in history after hosts France in 1900, Great Britain in 1908 and the U.S. in 1996.

The U.S. has more women than men for a third time in history and for the third Summer Olympics in a row. The percentage of women — nearly 54 — is the largest in U.S. history. There are 329 women among the 613 athletes (and 338 out of the 627 list), set to shatter the record for any nation set by the 2016 U.S. Olympic team (291 women competed in Rio, according to Olympedia).

ON HER TURF: More on a record Olympics for U.S. women

There are more athletes overall thanks to the record 339 medal events in Tokyo, up from 306 in Rio in 2016, with the re-addition of baseball and softball alone adding 39 U.S. athletes.

Equestrian Phillip Dutton will be the oldest and most experienced U.S. Olympian in Tokyo. Dutton is 57, set to be the oldest U.S. Olympian since 2008, and is going to his seventh Olympics. His first three were with his native Australia.

Dutton was also the oldest U.S. Olympian in Rio, where he won individual eventing bronze to become the oldest U.S. Olympic medalist since 1952.

After Dutton is a group of seven athletes set to compete in their fifth Olympics, including gold medalists Sue BirdDiana TaurasiAllyson Felix and Mariel Zagunis.

Swimmer Katie Grimes will be the youngest athlete on the team at age 15. She is set to become the youngest U.S. Olympian — Summer or Winter — since fellow swimmer Katie Ledecky in 2012. Grimes qualified in the same event as Ledecky did nine years ago (and again for Rio and Tokyo) — the 800m freestyle.

Felix is the most decorated athlete on the roster with nine Olympic medals, one shy of the U.S. track and field record held by Carl Lewis. Bird and Taurasi own gold medals from all four of their Olympic events, making them the most successful in an event-for-event ranking on this U.S. team.

Stanford again is the college or university most represented with more than 30 athletes.

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Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz set French Open semifinal showdown

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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.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

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

Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz
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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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2023 French Open Men’s Singles Draw

French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw French Open Men's Singles Draw