Paris: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer could confront each other in the semifinals of the French Open after the longtime rivals were placed in the same half of the draw conducted on Thursday.
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Nadal is looking to lift his 12th title in Paris while 2009 champion is playing in the tournament for the first time since 2015.
While Nadal will launch his campaign against a qualifier Federer will face Italy's Lorenzo Sonego.
Meanwhile, top seed Novak Djokovic starts his campaign against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.
Nadal is going into his favourite Grand Slam tournament with stunning form after a slow start to the claycourt season caused some to doubt his chances of continuing his swansong in the forthcoming Grand Slam tournament.
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The Spaniard has made a habit of cleaning up at the warm-up tournaments to Ronald Garros, but semifinal defeats in Madrid, Barcelona and Monte Carlo led to a sense that his dominance on the day might be diminishing.
However, when a lot of speculations were going on regarding his form, Nadal showed that he is still a reckoning force at claycourt beating Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 to win the Italian Open title.
Now, few would be able to batter him at the Stade Roland-Garros where he dropped just one set since the 2016 edition.
