Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could face off in a highly anticipated second-round match at the Paris Olympics.
Roland Garros, where Nadal has claimed the French Open title 14 times, will be the venue for the next ten days, marking the first time Olympic tennis is played on clay since 1992.
Carlos Alcaraz, who is also partnering with Nadal in the doubles, is the favourite to win gold for Spain, especially after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal. However, Nadal and Djokovic would both have been aiming for deep runs.
If top seed Djokovic defeats Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal gets past Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in their first-round matches, the two rivals will face each other in the second round.
The pair have faced each other 59 times over the last 18 years, with Djokovic leading the head-to-head with 30 wins. They last met at the French Open in 2022, when Nadal won that quarter-final encounter, and the Spaniard holds a 20-8 advantage on clay.
If a second-round match materialises, it will not be the first match between the two on the Olympic stage, with Nadal beating Djokovic at Beijing 2008 on his way to winning gold in the men’s singles.
The 38-year-old missed the grass-court season this year to prepare for the Olympics and made his return after a two-month absence last week when reaching the final of the Swedish Open.
Djokovic won bronze in 2008 but finished fourth in London and Tokyo, and will surely view this as a final opportunity to claim the Olympic gold that has so far eluded him.
It could well have been Andy Murray facing Djokovic in the first round in Paris. The Briton opted to pull out of the singles event to prioritise his doubles run with Dan Evans and was replaced in the draw by Ebden, who now faces the daunting task of going up against the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
