2024 Paris Olympics: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic will meet in second round of men's singles

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will meet in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics men's singles event. They have met 59 times through their legendary careers, and not much is guaranteed after this one.

Perhaps it's fitting that they will meet, once agin, at Roland Garros, the site of their very first meeting. In the 2006 French Open quarterfinal, Nadal was up 6-4, 6-4 before Djokovic had to retire because of a lower back injury. Eventually Nadal won the tournament, which was his second consecutive French Open title. He went on to win 12 more trophies on the same court.

Djokovic leads their head-to-head series 30–29, but they haven't met since Nadal took a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory in the 2022 French Open quarterfinal.

"Playing him is like finals, in any tournament," Djokovic said. "Particularly here, knowing what he has achieved and what he's done for our sport, but particularly here at Roland Garros, his record speaks for itself."

Despite having 24 Grand Slams on his resume, 37-year-old Djokivic has not won Olympic gold. In Beijing in 2008, he won his lone Olympic medal, a bronze, which he earned after getting past Nadal in the semifinals.

But he's off to an excellent start in Paris. Djokovic cruised through the first round with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Australia's Matthew Ebden -- a doubles player who had not played in a main-draw singles match since June 2022. He was a last-minute replacement for Holger Rune, who withdrew due to an on-going wrist injury.

Meanwhile, Nadal was sweating a bit more when he faced Hungary's Marton Fucsovic, who is No. 83 in the ATP rankings. The 22-Grand Slam champion won the first set but Fucsovic kept the rest of the match close, perhaps too close as Nadal needed two and a half hours to pull off the 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory.

Despite being only a year younger than Nadal, Djokovic is currently the world's No. 2 who is fresh off an appearance in Wimbledon's title match. Nadal, meanwhile, has had to deal with multiple injuries for the past few years and he's even considered retiring at the end of the season. He has been practicing on clay and decided to skip Wimbledon in order to avoid switching surfaces so he could be ready for the Olympics.

He may be in the twilight of his career, but Nadal has not offered much insight into where and when he'll call it a career. When asked by reporters about how this could potentially his "last dance" with Djokovic, Nadal rebuffed the notion saying, "Who say that's last dance?"