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Transport Won't be Ready, Paris Mayor Says Ahead of 2024 Olympics

This photograph taken in Paris on November 22, 2023 shows the sunset over the ferris wheel installed at the Tuileries Garden, with the Dome des Invalides seen in the background. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP)
This photograph taken in Paris on November 22, 2023 shows the sunset over the ferris wheel installed at the Tuileries Garden, with the Dome des Invalides seen in the background. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP)
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Transport Won't be Ready, Paris Mayor Says Ahead of 2024 Olympics

This photograph taken in Paris on November 22, 2023 shows the sunset over the ferris wheel installed at the Tuileries Garden, with the Dome des Invalides seen in the background. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP)
This photograph taken in Paris on November 22, 2023 shows the sunset over the ferris wheel installed at the Tuileries Garden, with the Dome des Invalides seen in the background. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP)

Paris will not be ready for the Olympics and Paralympics in terms of transport and sheltering the homeless, city mayor Anne Hidalgo has said.
"There will be places where (public) transport will not be ready because there will not be enough trains and not frequently enough," Hidalgo told news show Quotidien in thinly veiled criticism of Paris region president Valerie Pecresse.
The Ile de France (Paris region) Regional Council, led by right-winger Pecresse, is in charge of transports in the region.
Hidalgo said the government was also, "a little bit" responsible for the situation, adding: "But we do this all together so I'm also concerned".
Socialist Hidalgo said the RER (regional express train) station at Porte Maillot in western Paris would not be ready for the July 26-Aug 11 Games, Reuters reported.
However, Pecresse wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter: "We will be ready. It's a huge collective effort that shouldn't be denigrated by an absent mayor".
Hidalgo added that the situation of the homeless in the capital was another major issue.
"I don't want to take them out and hide them (during the Olympics). There should be a social legacy," Hidalgo said.
"We want to set up housing where they could be as soon as this winter and we're dealing with it with the regional authorities and the state and we all agree that we have to move forward - but we are not ready."

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Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
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Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season’s first major, ruling out a replay of last year’s semifinal match.
Sinner upset Djokovic in the semifinals at the Australian Open last year before coming back to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title.
Top-ranked Sinner has a first-round match against Nicolas Jarry and also has Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Medvedev in his quarter of the draw. Fritz will open against fellow American Jenson Brooksby.
Djokovic and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz could meet in the quarterfinals, with a possible semifinal against No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
At the draw Thursday to set the brackets for the singles fields, defending champions Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka walked into the official ceremony holding thei trophies.
Sabalenka won her second consecutive title at Melbourne Park in 2024 by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka will be attempting to win a third consecutive women’s singles title at Melbourne Park, something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
Sabalenka drew a tough opening match against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and has 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and Zheng in her section.
“I have a lot of great memories and to be back here ... as a two-time Australian Open champion, it’s definitely something special,” Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International title last week, said at the draw ceremony. “I hope that I can keep doing what I’m doing here in Australia.”
Third-seeded Coco Gauff is a potential semifinal rival for Sabalenka. Gauff has a challenging first-round match against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and is in the same section of the draw as seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula.
The Australian Open starts Sunday morning in Melbourne (Saturday night EST) and will run for 15 days.
Djokovic will be playing in his first event alongside new coach Andy Murray, his former on-court rival and a three-time major champion. Nobody has won the men's title at Melbourne Park more often than Djokovic, although he said he still feels trauma from the one year he wasn’t allowed to play.
Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up who withdrew from an exhibition against Djokovic this week because of an abdominal strain, will face Jacob Fearnley in the first round if the mercurial Australian is fit enough to contest his first major since the 2022 US Open. Kyrgios is in the same section as Zverev.