Bublik and Ostapenko - at the start, Djokovic and Barty - in the mind: who will the Russian tennis players fight against on their way to the medals of the Games

Men's singles

In the men's tournament, all Russian tennis players were among the seeded.

Only the French in 2016 managed to declare a team with the same high ratings, despite the fact that then they did not have anyone in the top four, and the Russian national team has the second racket of the world, Daniil Medvedev.

Andrey Rublev (# 5), Aslan Karatsev (# 11) and Karen Khachanov (# 12) will perform with him.

The draw for the single tournament can be called successful for the Russians.

But this was to be expected - they were placed in different quarters of the grid and by default they could not face each other until the semifinals.

But still, Rublev was a little less fortunate than the others.

In the quarterfinals, he can play with the first racket of the world, Novak Djokovic, who aims to win the Golden Helmet this year.

But even to a potential date with a Serb, Rublev will have to work his way through the thorns. In the first round he will be awaited by the bronze medalist of the Olympics in Rio and the owner of the courts, Kei Nishikori. Although the Japanese is currently ranked 69th in the ATP rankings, he is perfectly fine-tuned for home games. In addition, Nishikori won the only match against Rublyov on hard back in 2018. In the 1/8 finals, the Russian can play with the tenth seeded Gael Monfils from France, who, by the way, recently married Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Medvedev will start his first Olympics with a match with Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik. They have recently met at the start of Roland Garros, and the Russian continued to win every set against an opponent. The first serious test for Medvedev may be Italian Fabio Fognini. In the quarterfinals, there is a high probability of a duel either with the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta, or with the Canadian Felix Auger-Alyassim, who in the first round will play with the winner of the last two Olympics Andy Murray from Great Britain. Also in one quarter with Medvedev was Croat Marin Cilic - the strongest of the unseeded participants.

Khachanov, like Rublev, will begin the campaign for medals with a meeting with the host of the competition, Yoshihito Nishioka. The Russian tennis player already beat him two years ago at the Australian Open, and since then there is still a big difference in class between them. In the 1/8 finals, Khachanov may face 8th seeded Diego Schwarzman from Argentina, whom he lost twice in his career. The leader of their quarter is the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. He will try to win Greece's first medal in tennis in 125 years and will begin the tournament with a meeting with experienced German Philip Kohlschreiber.

The first opponent of Karatsev, American Tommy Paul, has the highest rating among all rivals of the Russians in the 1/32 finals.

Still, the Russian is 30 lines higher in the ATP rating, so he must confidently go to the next round.

In the 1/8 finals, Karatsev can sort out the relationship with the winner of the most interesting first round duel between Hungarian Marton Fuchovic and Pole Hubert Hurkach.

At the last Wimbledon, they beat Rublev and Medvedev in the fourth round, and Karatsev will have a good chance to avenge their compatriots.

And for a ticket to the semifinals, you may have to argue with the fifth racket of the world, Alexander Zverev from Germany.

Men's doubles

In the doubles tournament, the Russian tennis players will also have their own seeding.

Karatsev and Medvedev will play under the fourth number, and Rublev and Khachanov - under the sixth.

This allowed them all to get a very comfortable net and avoid early encounters with the main favorites of the competition.

These include the Croats Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the French Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mayu, the Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Together they have won 12 titles this season, including two Grand Slam events and three Masters, and are six of the top eight in the ATP rankings.

This is quite enough for the appearance of any other couple on the podium to become a sensation in the world of tennis.

Karatsev and Medvedev need not be afraid of all three duets until the semifinals thanks to their fourth seeding. Until this stage, their main rivals can be considered Zverev together with Jan-Lennard Struff or Khurkach with Lukasz Kubot. They will meet in the first round, and one of these couples can accompany the Russians in the quarterfinals. By this time, Karatsev and Medvedev should have played well enough to challenge experienced opponents.

Khachanov and Rublev have quite a decent pairing experience, and it should come in handy in the first round when they fight the Americans Rajiv Ram and Francis Tiafoe.

In the quarterfinals, the Russians can meet with Erber and Mayu, but if they manage to work a miracle and beat them, then they can get Kabal and Farah further.

By that time, the tennis tournament at the Olympics will come to an end, and everything will depend on whether the domestic players will retain the strength to play both alone and in pairs.

Women's singles

Russian girls' positions in world tennis are not as good as those of men. Only Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova received the seeding in the singles tournament. She starts at the Olympics with a match with the 104th racket of the world Sara Errani from Italy. The Russian woman has already met with a 34-year-old rival six times and won four victories over her. True, they haven't played with each other for the last four years. But the draw for Pavlyuchenkova is difficult to call successful - she may have to challenge the first racket of the world and Wimbledon champion Ashley Barty from Australia for a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Veronica Kudermetova was even more unlucky. In the first round, she will play with the seventh-seeded Spanish Garbinier Mugurusa. Their paths have crossed twice in the past year and a half, and in both cases, the native of Venezuela turned out to be stronger. Even if the 24-year-old Russian woman manages to overcome the resistance of an experienced rival, then in the third round she may meet the 13th racket of the world, Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic. However, she arrived in Tokyo with a streak of three defeats in a row, which does not at all correspond to her status.

The first rival of Ekaterina Alexandrova will also have a seed. She was the Belgian Eliza Mertens, who recently won Wimbledon in a pair. On her own this season, she is not so stable, but still takes the 17th line in the world rankings, so Alexandrova will have to try to win a second victory over Mertens. But the further path of the Russian woman in the tournament bracket cannot be called simple. The second and eighth rackets of the world, Naomi Osaka from Japan and Iga Swiontek from Poland, were in one quarter with her, and each will be considered a medal contender.

For Elena Vesnina, the priority is to perform in doubles, where she will defend the title of Olympic champion, and mixed doubles.

But in the singles tournament, the 34-year-old Russian woman got a pretty comfortable grid, which cannot be missed.

The first opponent of Vesnina will be the Latvian Elena Ostapenko.

They met twice, and both matches were played by the Russian tennis player.

In the event of a third victory, Vesnina can play with American Jennifer Brady, who, after reaching the Australian Open finals, has never won more than two matches in one tournament.

But then the Russian woman will already be awaited by the recent Wimbledon finalist Karolin Plishkova from the Czech Republic.

Women's doubles

Vesnina and Kudermetova will perform in the doubles tournament.

Despite the fact that they reached the Wimbledon final together, they did not receive the seeding at the draw.

This slightly complicates their fight for medals, since strong rivals will be waiting for them already in the second round.

We are talking about Dutch women Kiki Bertens and Demi Schuers, seeded at number three, and French women Caroline Garcia and Christine Mladenovic.

Both couples deserve to be on the podium, but they will meet in the first round, after which the winner of the match will meet with the Russian duo, if they, in turn, beat German women Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund.

If Vesnina and Kudermetova cope with all the difficulties in the early stages, then they still should not relax. In the semifinals, Czech players Barbora Kreichikova and Katezhina Sinyakova can become their opponents. They occupy the second and third places in the world rankings and have the right to be considered the strongest pair of the Olympics.