Rafael Nadal says it is ‘beautiful ‘ that can renew his rivalry against Novak Djokovic at the Olympics after winning his first round match on Sunday.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion battled his way to a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in what was a rollercoaster battle. Nadal dominated early on before falling behind 1-4 in the second set. The Spaniard fought back and had a chance to draw level in the middle frame but got broken when serving at 4-5. Then in the decider, the Spaniard regained momentum with a single break in his favour guiding him to victory.
“I think I started playing very well the first set. It [was] a great set, then something [was] happening. The good thing is I have been able to play at a very high level for around an hour, then I know what’s going on now, because I am not playing very often, then I am not able to hold,” Nadal said during his on-court interview.
“It takes me a lot of effort to hold the energy and the focus for such a long time. But that’s the effort of every day. Hopefully I will be able to do it better the next day. I will need it without a doubt.”
After initially expressing doubts about playing in the singles event, the 38-year-old has now secured a showdown against Djokovic in what will be their 60th meeting on the Tour. Djokovic breezed through his first round match on Saturday with a 6-0, 6-1, win over Matthew Ebden who entered the draw as a late replacement.
It will be the first time the two giants of tennis have clashed since the quarter-finals of the 2022 French Open, which is the same venue where the Olympic tennis event is being held. Djokovic narrowly leads their head-to-head 30-29.
“Of course it’s beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court,” Nadal said.
“But situations are completely different for him, for me. He’s being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favourite. I’m going to try my best to bring the best to the court and then let’s see how far I can go and how many problems I can create [for] him.”
Given Nadal’s recent injury issues and mixed results on the Tour, Djokovic might be the bookmaker’s favorite. However, the Serbian is wary of the dangers that he may face in what could be their final meeting. Nadal has indicated that he may retire from the sport soon but has given no definite timeline as to when that might be.
“Playing him is like finals for me. In any tournament and particularly here, knowing what he has achieved and what he’sdone for our sport, particularly here in Roland-Garros, his record speaks for itself.” Djokovic told reporters on Saturday.
“It’s going to be, possibly, the last time we face each other on a big stage, so I’m sure that people would enjoy it. I’mlooking forward to it. I’ll be ready for that match-up.”
It will be the second time the two have faced each other in an Olympic Games after 2008 when Nadal beat Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, in the semi-finals en route to winning the title.
