Novak Djokovic continued his quest for an elusive first gold medal on Monday, overcoming long-time rival Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the men's singles event of Paris Olympics at the Philippe-Chatrier court.
Their previous meeting on this court had seen Nadal triumph in a four-set quarterfinal win in 2022, but this time, it was Djokovic who dominated. The Serbian, currently ranked No.2 controlled the match from the start, taking the first set 6-1 and racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.
However, Nadal, who had only lost four times on Court Philippe-Chatrier before Monday, demonstrated his trademark resilience. The 38-year-old Spaniard began landing his heavy topspin forehands, breaking Djokovic's serve and levelling the set at 4-4 in dramatic style.
Nadal retrieved a Djokovic smash with a smash of his own, followed by a forehand into the open corner, igniting the crowd and shifting the momentum.
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But Djokovic was not to be denied. He broke Nadal's serve again with a deft drop shot on his fourth breakpoint to lead 5-4 and then held serve to seal the match, improving to 31-29 in their ATP head-to-head series.
With this victory, Djokovic gained a measure of Olympic revenge on Nadal, who had beaten him en route to winning the gold medal in Beijing in 2008. Djokovic, who won bronze in Beijing, has now matched Steffi Graf's record for the most Olympic singles match wins since 1988, with 15 victories.
What's next for both legends?
Next, Djokovic will face either Germany’s Dominik Koepfer or Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the third round as he continues his pursuit of Olympic glory.
Nadal, meanwhile, has had a challenging year. After losing in the first round at Roland Garros in May to Alexander Zverev and missing the grass-court season, he returned to action at the ATP 250 event in Bastad, reaching the final.
He managed to claw past Marton Fucsovics in three sets in his first-round match at the Paris Olympics but was unable to maintain that level against Djokovic. Despite striking 20 winners, Nadal committed too many unforced errors, allowing Djokovic to advance after one hour and 41 minutes of intense play.
