Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to clash in second-round blockbuster at Paris Olympics

It was a potential second-round match-up that turned heads when the draw was made, and now it’s a reality—Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will square off in the second round of the Paris Olympic Tennis Event, after both securing first-round victories at Stade Roland Garros over the weekend.

Djokovic was the first of the pair to advance, cruising past Australia’s Matthew Ebden—currently one of the top doubles players in the world, but who hadn’t played a singles match in almost two years—in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, in 53 minutes.

Nadal followed Djokovic into the second round on Sunday, albeit after a much tougher battle, needing three sets to make it past former Wimbledon quarterfinalist and current world No. 83 Marton Fucovics of Hungary, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

The two legends will now play each other for the 60th—yes, 60th—time, with Djokovic leading the head-to-head, 30-29.

It’ll be their first head-to-head meeting in more than two years, since Nadal defeated Djokovic in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 2022, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4), and went on to win the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the 14th time in his career.

The Spaniard also won the pair’s only previous encounter at the Olympics, a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 semifinal victory in Beijing in 2008, after which he went on to win his first Olympic gold medal in singles.

After Nadal cruised through the 31-minute first set, Fucsovics caught fire early in the second set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, and eventually stretching the lead out to 5-2—Nadal got the break back, but then faltered again while serving to stay in the set at 4-5, as Fucsovics broke back to send it to a third.

After three holds to start the set, Nadal again found himself in trouble, facing triple break point serving at 1-2, 0-40—but he fought all of those break points off, held, broke for 3-2 and never looked back, as the two held from there until it was all over.

in a match with very little between them in the end, it all could’ve come down to the most important points, the break points—Nadal went 4/8 on those, while Fucsovics went 2/10.