World No. 2 Novak Djokovic wished to face his longtime rival Rafael Nadal in the Round 2 of the tennis tournament at the Paris Olympics 2024. He further added that sparks would fly when the two meet each other on the clay and mentioned that this could be their “probable last dance together”. Djokovic was drawn against Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal will face Hungaraian Marton Fucsovics. The winners from these matches will meet in Round 2. This could be the record 60th meeting between Nadal and Djokovic across all major competitions.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously he (Nadal) hasn’t played much and his ranking drops. So, you know, there’s always going to be that possibility of meeting him in early rounds and there we go, you know, it’s going to be a spectacle. Definitely, if we get to meet, expect some fireworks on the court. Like the good old times. I hope we get to meet because there will probably be one last dance for both of us,” Nadal told Access Hollywood in an interview.
Amid the pre-game teasing, he also hailed Nadal as the “king of clay” and praised him for what the Spaniard has achieved in the French Open.
“Yeah. No, no. All the respect to Rafa, of course, he’s just, he was injured and everything, but he’s always the king of clay and what he’s done here in Roland Garros is unprecedented. So I can’t wait to step on the court with everyone is so excited for it,” Nadal added.
Paris Olympics 2024: Full Coverage
The Djokovic-Nadal rivalry
Djokovic currently leads the intense rivalry with 30 wins to Nadal’s 29. They squared off against each other at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, where Nadal secured a comfortable win in straight-sets. The pair had last met during the French Open 2022 quarter-final in Paris and the Spaniard secured a win. Nadal holds an edge over the Serbian on the clay-courts by an overwhelming margin of 20-8.
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Nadal was excited to be back in Paris and also called it the greatest honour to represent one’s country at one of the biggest sporting events.
City of love. It’s great to be here. It’s my first time. It’s so impressive and a great privilege to be here to be part of this wonderful evening with beautiful people, so elegant, so classy. And also there is a lot of connection and symbolism with Olympics and sports. So as an athlete, I always love to see that.
“I mean, look, the Olympic Games are the oldest and most important historical sports event in the history of sport, right? So all the best athletes and all the sports of the world, over 10,000 athletes are taking part in the Olympics, dreaming to be just part of the Olympics to qualify for the Olympics to represent their country, the greatest honor. Some of the sports, some of the athletes have to wait for three years for a big competition, which is the Olympics.”
He also suggested that the tennis players have been fortunate enough to get a lot of big tournaments to take part in ahead of Olympic Games.
“So we are fortunate in tennis have majors, we have a lot of big tournaments, but the Olympic Games have always been the highest priority of mine and many other tennis players. So we’re just blessed, we’re just blessed to really be a global sport that attracts a lot of attention. And hopefully we can see the stands full for all the matches,” the Serbian added.
Djokovic won gold in singles at the Beijing Olympics 2008 and in the doubles event with Marc Lopez at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.