Rafael Nadal aims to level head-to-head with Novak Djokovic at Paris Olympics on Monday

Two days in, and this has already been a banner Olympics for tennis.

It began with the sport’s strong representation in the Games’ Opening Ceremonies, which felt like a dual validation—of the game’s global importance, and its place at the heart of a competition from which it was absent for 60 years.

Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo helped carry the torch, and Coco Gauff joined LeBron James as a flag-bearer for the United States. But the biggest surprise came when a smiling Rafael Nadal suddenly appeared from underneath the Eiffel Tower to grab the torch from Zinedine Zidane and take it on a boat up the Seine. Win 14 titles at Roland Garros, the message seemed to be, and you can be an honorary Frenchman.

So far Nadal, a gold medalist in singles and doubles in the past, has taken that opening-day energy and put it to good use during his matches. On Saturday, he and Carlos Alcaraz—forever to be known as Nadalcaraz—packed Court Philippe Chatrier, and shook off just enough of their doubles rust to squeak past Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in two close sets. Of the two Spaniards, Nadal was the more natural and assured player. This was a chance to see the past and future of Spanish tennis, and a past and future GOAT, trade booming forehands and ear-to-ear grins. It’s surely something fans of all sports would like to see go on for as long as possible.

There was only one problem: Nadal had his right thigh strapped for that match. On top of his recent hip issues, he had apparently injured his thigh as well, and he said it might keep him out of the singles on Sunday. But an early practice convinced him he was good enough to go, and he was—just barely—against Marton Fucsovics. Rafa edged the heavy-hitting Hungarian 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to set up his 60th—and possibly final—meeting with Novak Djokovic.

Barely scraping past Fucsovics probably won’t give Rafa fans a lot of hope for his chances against Djokovic. To me, though, Nadal seemed to be hitting and moving well. He defended along the baseline, and made it up to Fucsovics’ drop shots with time to spare. He backpedaled all the way into the alley to hit his forehand, and flattened out his backhand down the line with confidence—which isn’t always the case. And while he had a hiccup double-fault at match point, he held his serve down the stretch in the third with confidence.

There were moments when it felt like old times on Chatrier—and a few moments, mostly early in the second set, when it didn’t. As Nadal has said before during his comeback, he can bring his A game for stretches, but he has trouble producing his best from wire to wire.

He knows he’ll need to do it for longer against Djokovic, and he knows he doesn’t have time to work toward his peak level, the way he usually does when he faces the Serb.

“It’s been always super special to play against Novak, no?” Nadal said to reporters on Sunday. “No doubt about that. But the difference is normally we have been playing for finals or for semifinals.”

“Every single match that I played against Novak—almost every single match—I arrived with a different situation… So that makes the match more difficult for me, and more unpredictable.”

As befits a 38-year-old and a 37-year-old, neither Nadal nor Djokovic will be niggle-free on Monday. Djokovic is just a few weeks out from knee surgery, and is coming off a subpar performance in the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. He may also feel the scar tissue from his 2-8 record against Rafa on this court.

Nadal-Djokovic LX will only be a second-round match, and won’t feature either man at his physical peak. But the stakes will high: Only one will continue what will likely be his final quest for Olympic glory. That’s especially important to Djokovic, who has won everything in the sport except a gold medal. Historically, the match could also be crucial: A Nadal win would leave them at 30-30 in their head-to-head; a Djokovic win would keep him in front, perhaps for all time.

“I always have hope, I always believe, and I’m going to give my best,” Nadal says.

We can only assume Djokovic is thinking the same.