NADAL V DJOKOVIC 60: THE MOST SPECIAL OF RIVALRIES, IN A SPECIAL PLACE
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, tennis’s greatest rivals still in activity, had very different days on Sunday.
Djokovic, already safely into the second round, watched other Olympians exert themselves: taking in a France-Serbia men’s volleyball match with his two children.
Nadal had to sweat and then sweat some more in the Paris sunshine (yes, they have that here). He started on a roll against the dangerous Marton Fucsovics and then ran into quite a few speed bumps on the clay before prevailing 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in nearly three hours.
“I was more defensive, more predictable and then the match was very complicated,” Nadal said with his usual no-nonsense clarity.
But the 38-year-old Nadal and 37-year-old Djokovic will be back on the same schedule on Monday when they meet in the second round of the Olympic men’s singles tournament.
It will be their 60th match: that is not a typo. And they will duel in a very familiar spot – the Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland Garros – but in a very different context with medals rather than trophies on the line and with this duel coming so early in the event.
“It has been always super special to play against Novak, no doubt about that,” Nadal said. “But normally we have been playing for finals or for semi-finals.
This is in the second round. Of course, it’s in the Olympics, where every match is super special. But it’s true that at the same time, almost every single match I arrived with a different situation than I am in today.
So that makes the match more difficult for me and more unpredictable, no? But I always have hope. I always believe, and I am going to give my best. Thank you very much.”
With that, Nadal took his leave on Sunday from the mixed zone, the media corral where athletes meets reporters at the Olympics.
Rest would be a fine idea before taking on Djokovic. Nadal has not had much since these Games began with a rainswept opening ceremony on the Seine River on Friday night in which he played a major role, carrying the torch on and off the water.
That was quite an honour for a Spaniard in an otherwise French-accented production.
But even the French can recognise that winning 14 French Open singles titles deserves something above-and-beyond, and Nadal already had his own larger-than-life-size statue just inside the main entrance gate at Roland Garros.
But Djokovic, who has won the French Open three times himself and has been the second best clay-courter of the 21st century, is the rightful favorite on Monday.
He is ranked 2nd in the world and just reached the final at Wimbledon despite coming off minor knee surgery.
He has played a lot more meaningful tennis over the last two seasons than Nadal, who has struggled with injuries and considered retirement.
The Spaniard is now avoiding any definitive timelines. He shut down the farewell ceremonies that had been planned for him at this year’s Italian Open and French Open.
He has not ruled out the U.S. Open or Davis Cup once the Olympics are done.
Djokovic has sounded more open to embrace the end-is-near theme than Nadal.
“We’ll spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times,” Djokovic said on Saturday of their possible match-up. “I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for both of us.”
Nadal’s response: “Who says it’s last dance?”
Clearly, Nadal will not be rushed toward the sunset. His ranking is up to 161 after his run to the final at the ATP 250 in Bastad, Sweden the week before the Games.
He looked off target and low on energy when he lost that final to Nuno Borges of Portugal. But even if Nadal is not as quick off the mark as in his fist-pumping youth, he has still shown flashes of his A Game during this latest comeback
He lit up the Chatrier Court in the first set on Sunday, generating depth and pop that must have looked very familiar to everyone but Fucsovics, a 32-year-old Hungarian who had never faced Nadal before on any surface.
The problem for Nadal is maintaining that level and, by his own admission, maintaining his customary focus.
His trademark has long been his capacity to dial in on the biggest points. But he is a flickering flame at this stage, and Nadal soon lost depth, precision and the initiative to Fucsovics.
The forehand drop shot that Nadal mistimed badly to lose his serve and the second set seemed an apt metaphor for his inconsistencies.
In the third set, he had to rally from 0-40 on his serve in the fourth game in order to keep pace. He broke Fucsovics in the next game and then had an edgy time when he served out the victory: double faulting on one match point.
“It was a good test,” Nadal said. “And the good thing is I was able to play at a good level of tennis for a while. That always gives hope, and then the negative side is I was not able to hold that great level.”
“Tomorrow is another story, another kind of opponent,” Nadal said of Djokovic. “Of course we are in different situations in our careers. His moment and my moment.
He’s coming from being in the final of a Grand Slam. I’m coming without being very competitive for the last three years. So let’s see. It’s in a special place.”
Nadal has an 8-2 edge over Djokovic in that special place. It is where they played their first match against each other in 2006, with Djokovic retiring after losing the first two sets in the quarter-finals.
It is where they played one of their greatest matches: the 2013 French Open semi-final that Nadal won 9-7 in the 5th set.
It is also where they have played three of the last four times they have faced off, most recently in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals where Nadal won in four sets.
But Djokovic still has a 30-29 edge in their razor’s edge rivalry, and he may also have the fresher legs considering that he is restricting his Olympic experience to singles only this year in a quest to secure the gold medal that has so far eluded him: a rarity for a serial champion who has managed to win everything else of import in the sport.
Nadal is playing singles and doubles here, teaming with Carlos Alcaraz, and though Nadal considered withdrawing from the singles to manage a leg problem, he ultimately chose to take to the clay on Sunday while Djokovic took it easy.
On Monday afternoon, they will both be back at work.
