Monday’s highly anticipated second-round match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the Paris Olympics may be their final meeting as two of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Early in the competition, the match between the many Grand Slam champions—28 of which were finals—will be the 60th in history. It also comes after Nadal, who has fallen to 161st in the world rankings after a two-year battle with ailments.
With a record 24 men’s Grand Slam victories, Djokovic is looking to increase his 30-29 lead in their head-to-head matchup. However, the “King of Clay,” Rafael Nadal, holds an 8-point advantage on clay after winning their most recent match in the 2022 French Open quarterfinals.
In what may be his final match in the Roland Garros stadium, Rafael Nadal declared that he will “try to give (his) best and enjoy it as much as possible”.
Djokovic has not won a single tournament this year and is still recovering from knee surgery after having to withdraw from the French Open in the quarterfinals. The Spaniard may profit from Djokovic’s recent decline in form.
While Nadal won gold in both the singles and doubles categories in 2008 and 2016, the Serb hopes to add an Olympic gold medal to his record Grand Slam victories.
In the opening round, Djokovic easily defeated Australian doubles expert Matthew Ebden, who qualified for the singles draw despite several top singles players—including world No. 1 Jannik Sinner—pulling out due to illness or injury.
In the meanwhile, Nadal won three sets against Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.
Along with fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who is competing in the singles on Monday, the 38-year-old Nadal is also a part of the men’s doubles competition.