Rafael Nadal kicked off his men's singles campaign at the Paris Olympics with an impressive win over Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the first round on Sunday, July 28. The legendary Spaniard, playing his last Olympic Games, will take on another tennis legend Novak Djokovic in the second-round clash on Tuesday.
Novak Djokovic entered the second round with an easy win over Australia's Matthew Ebden on Monday. He will face Nadal in the second round on his potential road to his first-ever Olympic medal. The duo share 46 men's singles Grand Slam titles between them and will be facing each other after two years of gap.
Nadal and Djokovic last faced each other in the quarter-final of the 2022 French Open where the former went on to win his last Grand Slam title. However, After the Roland-Garros title in 2022, the Spanish legend failed to maintain his fitness and missed the majority of the 2023 season. Nadal suffered a fresh injury during the 2023 Australia Open and then made his return in 2024.
Nadal withdrew from the recent Wimbledon to focus on his game on clay surfaces ashed of the Paris Games. He was partnered with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in a dream pairing for the men's doubles at the Olympics and the duo kicked off their campaign with an easy win over the Argentine pair of Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner on clay famously bagged the gold in the men's singles at the 2008 Beijing by beating Chile's Fernando González in the final. He is the only male tennis player to record a 'Golden Slam', an achievement for a player who has won all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold. Nadal claimed his second Olympic gold in the men's doubles with Marc Lopez in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.
