Serbia and Spain were drawn to play in the second round of the men's singles in the tennis tournament. Who could that involve? And in the fencing, France was guaranteed gold in the women's sabre ... sacrée bleue?
Rush
There was interest in the match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. it was their 60th meeting on the senior tour. And it came at the very venue where they played their first game – the Roland Garros stadium in Paris.
The first match was the quarter final at the 2006 French Open. Nadal won. Eighteen years later? Second round at the 2024 Olympics. And Djokovic claimed the spoils. That made it 31-29 to the Serb in the most enduring rivalry in the sport.
Waning
Whether there'll be a 61st meeting between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is very much up in the air. Nadal, 38, has been plagued by all kinds of injuries over the past two years and his ranking has fallen to 161 in the world. Djokovic, 37, rolls at number two. And Djokovic's 6-1, 6-4 victory was logical. The Serb led 6-1, 4-1 with his service to follow but had a lapse in concentration to let Nadal back in. But once he refocused the gulf between the two was evident.
Going great
Sarah-Léonie Cysique won bronze in the women's -57kg. It goes with the Frenchwoman's silver medal in the category from the Tokyo Games. There was also a gold medal in the mixed team event in Japan. "I obviously was going for gold," said the 26-year-old of her run in Paris.
"But after I lost in the semi-finals I am happy that I was able to recover. For that I have to thank my coaches because if it had just been me I wold have gone off and sulked in the corner. But they asked me if I wanted to go home with nothing or a medal. Two medals from two Olympics isn't bad is it?" And the review's not about to argue with a top martial artist.
Smiling assassin
Clearly jollity is the best policy. Manon Apithy-Brunet burst into the arena for the final of the women's sabre at the Grand Palais all smiles and waving arm – the other was clutching her weapon – as the partisans cheered for the 28-year-old Frenchwoman. "It was so loud I just wanted to make the most of it and I was just smiling," she explained.
Balzer entered to the same noisy acclaim but embraced it with an icy poise suggesting cold-blooded killer. Balzer, the world number two, never recovered from a slow start and Apithy-Brunet won the contest 15-12 to become the first Frenchwoman to claim the sabre gold since it was introduced at the Olympics in 2004.
Sacré bleu
Manon Apithy-Brunet impressed with her metaphysics, eloquence and diplomacy after joining Pascale Trinquet and Laura Flessel in the pantheon of Olympic gold medal-winning French female fencers. "For me, me and Sara won gold together," she said. "Of course she has the silver medal and it's different ... but it's France that won."
