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The 60th edition of Rafael Nadal-Novak Djokovic was not exactly an instant classic.
Djokovic, top seed in the Paris Olympics, dominated the unseeded Nadal, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the third round in singles at Roland Garros. Djokovic improved to 31-29 all-time against the 14-time French Open champion. Nadal still leads 8-3 at Roland Garros, including the Olympics.
Nadal, who owns gold medals in singles and doubles, remains alive in doubles with partner Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic, who won bronze at the 2008 Olympics, remains in the hunt for his first gold medal in singles. He will next face either Dominik Koepfer of Germany or Matteo Arnaldi of Italy.
“Well, tremendous respect I have for [Nadal], obviously a legend of our game,” Djokovic told Britney Eurton of Peacock on court. “We played so many times, actually in Roland Garros, one of our four majors. He has a better score on clay, I have a better score overall, but we haven’t faced each other too many times I would say in the last 3-4 years. Last time was two years ago on this court, he won that match.
“Obviously, he struggled a lot with injuries in the last couple of years. You could feel that on the court today with his movement but when he was on the ball he was striking it very well so I tried to do everything I possibly can with my game to make him uncomfortable, to make it unpredictable for him. I was playing great except for those maybe 3-4 games when I was 6-1, 4-0 up and started hesitating a little bit on my shots and he stepped in and played some great games, some great points. Crowd got involved, it was quite tough but I managed to break his serve and serve out the match with an ace so all in all, very, very pleased with the performance.”
The two men have combined for 46 Grand Slam singles titles, but had not met in more than two years since Nadal beat Djokovic in the 2022 French Open quarterfinals.
In recent years, Nadal has dealt with a cracked rib, an abdominal tear, tears in his hip, an upper leg injury that required tape at the Olympics and a foot problem. He has barely played in the last two years.
Djokovic, who is coming off knee surgery last month, dominated on his serve while also controlling the match from the baseline. He was unafraid to go to Nadal’s lefty forehand and then waited for the precise moment to step in and hit his two-handed backhand down the line for winners.
