The dream Paris Olympics matchup between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal sparked to life in the second set Monday afternoon, when Spain's Nadal won four straight games to level the frame at 4-4. In the end it was not enough to prevent Djokovic from sealing a dominant 6-1, 6-4 victory, after he won 10 of the first 11 games on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros.
After improving to 31-29 in the pair's historic rivalry, Djokovic put the pair's matchup into the context of the sport at large—with its impact felt far beyond the one hour, 44 minutes of play in the Paris secoind round.
"I think we will appreciate this match very much,” the 37-year-old said. “I think for our rivalry and I think for the sport itself. I think there was a lot of attention and interest directed from sports towards us. It is unfortunate for him that he wasn’t at his best, but I did everything I could to make him feel uncomfortable."
Nadal nearly pulled out of the Olympic singles competition after suffering an injury setback during his preparations and playing with his right thigh taped in his opening doubles match with Carlos Alcaraz. But the 38-year-old managed to claw past Marton Fucsovics in three first-round sets to set up the showdown with Djokovic.
"Playing against Novak without creating damage to him, and without having the legs of 20 years ago, is almost impossible," Nadal said after the defeat.
While the Spaniard acknowledged he was not at his best, he refused to confirm that this would be his last matchup with the Serbian.
"I cannot live every single day with the feeling that it’s going to be, or not going to be, my last match," he said. "I come here, I try my best, I play. And when I decide to stop playing, or when I decide to keep going, I will let you know.
"If I feel that I am not competitive enough to keep going or physically I am not ... ready to keep going, I will stop, and I will let you know."
Djokovic, who moves on to face Germany's Dominik Koepfer in the last 16, was also hopeful that the pair would meet again: “Of course it can be [our last match], but we don’t know that. It really depends on many different factors," he said.
"I just hope for the sake of our rivalry, and the sport, in general, that we’ll get to face each other once, maybe a few times, on different surfaces, in different parts of the world, because I feel like it can only benefit the sport. But I don’t know how he feels in his body, what his plans are."
For now, Nadal's Olympics will continue with Alcaraz in doubles. He plans to attack that event "with all the enthusiasm in the world," with a last-16 matchup against Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof awaiting.
Both Djokovic and Nadal are on the men's singles main-draw entry list for the 2024 US Open, and with Nadal set to be unseeded, the pair could square off again early in the New York draw.
If they meet at the US Open, it would be their fourth New York encounter. Each of the previous three came in finals, with Nadal winning twice (2010, 2013) and Djokovic once (2011).
Reigning US Open women's singles champion Coco Gauff has been among those captivated by the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry through the years. The 20-year-old, who was born two years before their first matchup at Roland Garros in 2006, shared her thoughts on the pair's impact on the sport.
"They mean a lot. They're the definition of iron sharpens iron," Gauff said in Paris. "For them to have to play this early, it kind of sucks. I think we all would have loved to see it as more of a medal match.
"I'm assuming this will be Rafa's last Olympics. I don't know if he can make it to '28. But, if it is, he has obviously an incredible Olympic legacy, and obviously in tennis, he's a legend of the sport. Same with Novak. Obviously, I think he might have a little bit more time left in the field, so I probably won't speak too much on his career because ... he's done a lot. But in my perspective, I feel like he has a lot more to do, and that's crazy with someone being his age to say that."
