PARIS — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all ended up in the same half of the French Open men’s singles draw Thursday, meaning no more than one of them can reach the final. The Big Three top the leaderboard for Grand Slam men’s singles titles: Federer and Nadal head to Roland Garros, where play begins Sunday, tied with 20, while Djokovic has 18.

Nadal beat Djokovic in straight sets in the 2020 final for his record-extending 13th championship on the red clay of Paris, but if they meet again this time, it would be in the semifinals. Nadal is ranked and seeded No. 3 now, and so he could have wound up on either side of the bracket; as luck would have it, he was placed in No. 1 Djokovic’s half.

So was Federer, whose record for most weeks atop the ATP rankings recently was broken by Djokovic. Federer is currently at No. 8 after playing only three matches over the past 15 months because of two operations on his right knee. He could meet Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Serena Williams, who has won three of her professional-era record 23 Grand Slam titles in Paris, is in a quarter of the women’s draw filled with familiar faces. That includes possible matchups with three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the third round, two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova in the fourth and either two-time Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka or No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals.

The other possible women’s quarterfinals are No. 1 Ash Barty vs. No. 5 Elina Svitolina, No. 4 Sofia Kenin vs. No. 8 Iga Swiatek in what would be a rematch of the 2020 final won by Swiatek, and No. 2 Naomi Osaka vs. No. 6 Bianca Andreesscu.

Four-time major champion Osaka announced Wednesday on Twitter that she would not be doing news conferences during the French Open. In explaining her decision, Osaka cited concerns over her and other athletes’ mental health, criticizing the dynamic of a group of reporters peppering a player with questions.

“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for (athletes’) mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” Osaka wrote. “We’re often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”

EMILIA-ROMAGNA OPEN: Sebastian Korda beat eighth-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-3 to set up an all-American semifinal against Tommy Paul in Parma, Italy.

Paul, seeded sixth, eased past fourth-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-2, 6-4.

The other semifinal pits Marco Cecchinato – the only Italian left in the draw – against Jaume Munar of Spain. The 80th-ranked Munar routed fifth-seeded Richard Gasquet, 6-1, 6-1, while Cecchinato beat Norbert Gombos, 6-3, 6-1.

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