Rio 2016 Olympics: Andy Murray to face Victor Troicki in Rio opener

Posted: Aug 04, 2016

Olympic Games on the BBC
Hosts: Rio de Janeiro Dates: 5-21 August Rio time: BST -4
Coverage: Watch on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, Red Button and up to 24 HD video streams on mobile, desktop, connected TVs and app, plus follow on Radio 5 live and via live text commentary.

Great Britain’s defending champion Andy Murray will face Viktor Troicki in the first round of the Olympics in Rio.

Johanna Konta plays Stephanie Vogt of Liechtenstein and fellow Briton Heather Watson also faces a player outside the top 250 in Peng Shuai of China.

Kyle Edmund plays Australian Jordan Thompson, while the Murray brothers begin the doubles against Brazilian pair Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic opens his campaign against Juan Martin Del Potro.

Argentine Del Potro, who has struggled with a wrist injury for the last two years, beat Djokovic in the bronze medal match at the 2012 Olympics.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with a wrist injury, will play Argentina’s Federico Delbonis in the first round and also intends to play in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Serena Williams starts her campaign for a fifth Olympic gold medal against Australia’s Daria Gavrilova and will also play with her sister Venus in the doubles.

Murray’s first-round opponent, Serbia’s Troicki, was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct after a rant at an umpire following his second-round defeat at this year’s Wimbledon.

The draw for the mixed doubles, which Murray and Laura Robson took silver in in 2012, will be finalised on 9 August.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:

At 35 in the world, and in a best-of-three-set match, Troicki is a dangerous first-round opponent – even though Murray has won all seven of their previous meetings.

His chief rival Djokovic has an even more perilous start against 2009 US Open champion Del Potro and could face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals. Murray’s projected opponent in the last eight is David Ferrer – and Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.

The draw has been kind to Konta, Watson and Edmund, although Watson’s opponent Peng Shuai was 27 in the world before missing 10 months through injury.