Rafael Nadal will finally face his biggest rival, Novak Djokovic, more than two years after their last match.
The Spaniard defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-1 4-6 6-4. in the first round of the Olympics to set up a highly-anticipated, mouthwatering 60th meeting with the top seed.
It comes after Nadal brushed off claims that it would be his “last dance” with Djokovic, hinting that he isn’t planning to retire after the Paris 2024 games.
There were doubts over whether Nadal would even take to the court for his first-round singles match after he joined forces with Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles on Saturday night. After they won, he blasted the “outrageous” decision to schedule his clash with Fucsovics second in Sunday’s day session.
The 38-year-old has also been wearing heavy strapping on his right thigh and cancelled his singles practice on Thursday, only returning on Friday to practice doubles. But after another training session on Sunday morning, he decided to remain in the draw and came out to face Fucsovics.
The King of Clay got off to a blistering start on his favourite court, racing into a 6-1 lead. But trouble struck early in the second set when Fucsovics broke immediately. The Hungarian struggled to close it out and Nadal pounced, breaking back when Fucsovics served for the set.
But the 32-year-old responded by breaking again to force a decider. After blowing four break points in two games, Nadal’s back was against the wall when he went 0-40 down on his serve. But he survived and finally managed to get the breakthrough he was looking for, taking a 3-2 lead.
After saving a break point, Nadal kept rolling until he booked his spot in round two, needing three match points to get the job done in two hours and 32 minutes. He will now face Djokovic for the 60th time.
Their last meeting came on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the quarter-final of the 2022 French Open where Nadal prevailed in four sets. But it’s the current world No. 2 who just leads their head-to-head with 30 wins to 29 losses.
After his doubles outing on Saturday night, Nadal raised eyebrows when he was asked whether he was ready for his last dance with Djokovic. “Who says [it’s the] last dance?” the 22-time Grand Slam champion replied.
Djokovic thrashed Matthew Ebden 6-0 6-1 in his own first-round match and is now eagerly awaiting his old foe Nadal. And it was Djokovic himself who thought it could be the last hurrah for their rivalry.
He said: “It’s one of the matches or one of the events I guess that a lot of people at the Olympics in Paris this year are looking forward to. When the draw came out, we knew that there is a high probability that it might happen, so I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to our last dance so to say.
