Novak Djokovic’s quest for Olympic gold continues after downing Rafael Nadal 6-1 6-4 in their 60th, and likely final, career meeting.
Fittingly it was at Roland Garros, where the two men’s slam title leaders first met, where the pair duelled as Nadal tried to rediscover the magic that spurred him onto 14 French Open titles.
But coming into the tournament underdone, the Spaniard couldn’t raise his game to the Serb’s level, even with Djokovic less than perfect right now.
Nadal was staring down 6-1 4-0 before showing incredible grit to level the second set at 4-4.
Djokovic then needed four break points before finally cracking Nadal for a 5-4 advantage, serving it out from there.
It means Djokovic has won 31 of their all-time meetings, while Nadal has won 29.
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Outside round-robin matches in the season-ending ATP Finals, their second-round encounter at the Olympics was the earliest they have ever met at a tournament.
Nadal, a singles gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and doubles champion at Rio four years later, was playing just his seventh tournament of 2024.
He reached the final in Bastad last weekend but suffered a setback in training on Wednesday, jeopardising his hopes of appearing at a fifth Olympics.
Nadal teamed up with Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles on Saturday, but he had his right thigh heavily bandaged as the pair won their first-round match in straight sets.
Source Agencies
