Rafael Nadal made an honest admission ahead of his second-round match against old-rival Novak Djokovic at Paris Olympics 2024 saying that the Serb is the “clear favourite”.
Nadal defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6 and 6-4 in his first match of the Olympics and set up a meeting with Djokovic. The Spaniard stated that while he has been struggling with injuries for two years, the Serb has been very competitive so he is going to be the favourite.
"Situations are completely different for him, for me. He's being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favourite," said Nadal, who holds an 8-2 head-to-head advantage over the Serb at Roland Garros.
"I'm going to try my best to bring the best to the court and then let's see how far I can go and how many problems I can create for him."
Nadal added that playing against Djokovic is always special but they have played at finals or semi-finals in the past which is not going to be the case now.
"It has always been super special to play against Novak, no doubt about that," said Nadal. "But the difference is normally we have been playing for finals or for semi-finals.
"Of course, it's an Olympics... every match is super special. But it's true that at the same time, almost every single match that I played against Novak, I arrive at it with a different situation that I am today.
"So that makes the match more difficult for me and more unpredictable. But, I always have hope, I always believe."
Nadal and Djokovic have been competing at the highest level since their first encounter at Roland Garros in 2006 where the Spaniard emerged victorious.
That was the start of a legendary rivalry that would share 59 matches — a record in men's tennis — between them with some of the greatest encounters including the 2012 Australian Open final, which was the longest major final match by duration that lasted 5 hours, 53 minutes with the Serbian beating the Spaniard.
