Habib, ranked 275th in the world, travelled to Paris 2024 to play in the tennis men's doubles and unexpectedly found himself making history: he entered the singles draw due to Hubert Hurkacz's injury and the order of play made him the first Olympic tennis player in the history of Lebanon.

This is his participation in singles, while he is also expected to participate in doubles, alongside the legend Rafael Nadal, protagonist of the opening ceremony as one of the last torchbearers.

It has also been a winning first day for Serbia's Djokovic, who comes to Paris with ambitions of his first Olympic gold and also to challenge his eternal nemesis, Spain's Nadal, with whom he has competed 59 times, for which he will have to beat Hungary's Marton Fucsovics on Sunday. "If we meet, it will probably be the last time," he said.

Djokovic comfortably defeated Australian Matthew Ebden 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes in a match not without controversy. Ebden had not played singles for years, as he trains for doubles, but was called upon to replace Britain's Andy Murray, who is booked for the doubles competition with which he will end his career. The Australian admitted he was ‘never going to win’ against the world number two and hoped at least he would not get injured.

This substitution was what caused Djokovic's anger, "I really don't understand the rules (...) I don't think it's a good image for the sport, there are a lot of singles players who could have been called to come," he said, before stating "I hope the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and the Olympics will change the rule because it was tough on Matt". What happens is that under ITF rules, any withdrawals are covered by the highest ranked doubles player.

Finally, the world number one in women's tennis, Poland's Iga Swiatek beat Irina Camelia-Begu, 6-2, 7-5, and will face either France's Diane Parry or Argentina's Nadia Podoroska for a place in the last 16. Italy's Jasmine Paolini also reached the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Romania's Ana Bogdan.