Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal expressed their dissatisfaction with the 2024 Paris Olympics scheduling and rules after winning their first matches in the mega event.
Nadal faced Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molten in doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz and managed to secure a victory in straight sets.
The Spaniards competed against the Argentinians at 10pm local time on Saturday and Nadal’s singles match against Marton Fucsovics was scheduled for Sunday at 2pm.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner expressed his dissatisfaction with the scheduling saying he would not get enough time to recover.
“Do I play at 2:00 p.m.? I don’t understand the schedule, it seems outrageous to me when I’m playing tomorrow at two o’clock. I don’t know, I’ll have to go back to the village and talk to the team, I’ll make the decision that I think is most appropriate to have a chance of getting results for Spain,” Nadal said after the match.
On the other hand, Djokovic comfortably defeated Matthew Ebden, who is a doubles expert, in his first singles match. However, the Serb was not happy that the Olympic organisers put a doubles expert in a singles match against him.
“He told me it’s been over two years (since) he played an official singles match and he said this was his last singles match, he’s officially retired. So as I said, it’s not a great feeling for him being on the court like that,” Djokovic said.
“There were a lot of singles players that had plenty of time, there were alternates, that could have been told to come. So this part I don’t get and I really hope that the (tennis governing body) ITF along with the Olympics will consider changing this rule because it’s tough on Matthew.”
If Nadal beats Fucsovics in his singles match, he will get to play his longtime rival Djokovic in the second round.
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.
