Novak Djokovic extended record with latest win over Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal squared off for an incredible 60th time Monday in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics singles draw.

When Djokovic beat his longtime rival 6-1, 6-4 to advance, he improved his head-to-head edge over the Spaniard to 31-29, extending a record in men's tennis for most wins over a single opponent.

Here is the rest of the list (most wins against an opponent in Open Era):

• Nadal over Djokovic (29 wins, 31 losses)
• Djokovic over Roger Federer (27 wins, 23 losses)
• Nadal over David Ferrer (26 wins, 6 losses)
• Boris Becker over Stefan Edberg (25 wins, 10 losses)
• Djokovic over Andy Murray (25 wins, 11 losses)
• Nadal over Federer (24 wins, 16 losses)

It's hard to argue that Djokovic versus Nadal will go down as the greatest rivalry in men's tennis history due to the closeness of the results.

The only rivalries in the discussion are Djokovic's 27-23 edge over Federer, Stefan Edberg's 14-13 advantage over Ivan Lendl or John McEnroe's 20-14 record against Jimmy Connors.

While rivalries such as Federer versus Nadal and Djokovic versus Murray produced high-quality tennis, the overall results were lopsided in favor of Nadal and Djokovic, respectively. The same can be said about Ivan Lendl defeating Jimmy Connors 22 times in their 35 matchups.

For nearly two decades, the Djokovic versus Nadal rivalry was one where the winner was always a toss-up and hard to predict. The legends shared their mutual respect after their latest encounter.

Nadal said if Monday marked his last match on the hallowed clay courts of Roland Garros — where he won a record 14 titles — he's glad it happened against his greatest foe.

"If that's the last match here, I'll be in peace," Nadal said . "I did my best and I can't complain."

Despite crashing out of the singles draw, Nadal is alive in the Paris Olympics doubles tourney as he and Carlos Alcaraz face the Netherlands' Wesley Koolhof and Tallon Griekspoor on Tuesday.