“One last dance, anywhere”: such was Novak Djokovic’s hope for his storied rivalry with Rafael Nadal when the Spaniard returned from a lengthy injury absence this spring. Now Djokovic may get his wish, after the draw for the Paris Olympics teased the possibility of a second-round meeting between the legendary pair at Roland Garros.
Djokovic, three of whose 24 grand slam titles have come on the Parisian clay, will begin his quest to make good the only significant omission from his trophy cabinet against Australia’s Matthew Ebden. It will be the 37-year-old’s fifth Olympic campaign, with his best return so far the bronze medal he won in Beijing in 2008, where he was beaten in the semi-finals by Nadal. While Nadal would go on to win a gold medal against Chile’s Fernando González – and added a second four years later in Rio de Janeiro, where he partnered Marc López, now a member of his coaching team, to the men’s doubles title – Djokovic’s Olympic odyssey has been a more painful one.
At the 2012 Games in London, where he was handed the honour of bearing Serbia’s flag, Djokovic was beaten by Andy Murray in the last four and then denied bronze by Juan Martín del Potro, who also consigned him to a tearful first-round exit in Rio in 2016. Victory seemed all but assured in 2020, when Djokovic arrived in Tokyo with a golden grand slam in his sights after winning the first three majors of the year. Instead, he was stunned by Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, then suffered a meltdown against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the bronze medal match, hurling his racket into the stands – fortunately empty due to the global pandemic – and obliterating a frame against the net post as he slipped to a three-set defeat.
Small wonder, then, that Djokovic has made no secret of prioritising the Olympics this season. His most recent visit to Roland Garros ended unhappily after he suffered a torn meniscus in his last-16 win over Francisco Cerúndolo and was forced to withdraw from the tournament. He subsequently underwent knee surgery and, despite an improbable run to the Wimbledon final, where he was beaten in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz, a question mark remains over his fitness. His movement was clearly below par against Alcaraz, and his intensive rehabilitation efforts will not have been helped by the switch back from grass to clay, challenges he acknowledged after the final.
“In order to really have a chance to beat these guys in a grand slam, latter stages, or Olympics, I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today,” said Djokovic. “I’m going to work on it.
“Hopefully [I] have a chance to fight for a medal for my country. On a completely different surface, obviously, going back to the place where I got injured some weeks ago. Let’s see. Let’s see how physically and mentally I’m going to feel. Hopefully I can find the right tennis, because I’m going to need all I have and more to go to the final of the Olympic Games.”
If the Serbian world No 2 is to fulfil that dream, however, he may have to go through Nadal, who reached his first final in two years last week on the clay courts of Bastad. The Spaniard faces a potentially tricky opening-round assignment Márton Fucsovics of Hungary, ranked 83 in the world and widely regarded as one of the fittest players on tour. Mercifully, Nadal looked strong in practice on Friday, warming up alongside Alcaraz, his doubles partner, with his right thigh bandaged after suffering a midweek fitness scare that had his coach, Carlos Moya, warning that the 22-time grand slam winner’s singles campaign could be in doubt. Djokovic, however, will be among the many hoping his old rival makes the start line.
“Expectations for the Olympics are high, and I can’t and don’t want to change that,” said Djokovic. “It creates a personal motivation for me to approach it in the best possible way for the best possible result.
“In the last four, five days, I feel more prepared for the Olympics than I was for Wimbledon. I’m looking forward to the start of the tournament.
“It would be exciting to play against Nadal in the second round.”
Should that showdown materialise, it would be the 60th meeting between the pair. Djokovic currently has 30 wins to Nadal’s 29, although the Spaniard has prevailed in eight of their 10 matches at Roland Garros, the most recent of which came two years ago, when Nadal came through a four-set quarterfinal classic.
The bottom half of the draw is propped up by Alcaraz, who will be competing at the Games for the first time. The 21-year-old, who opens on Saturday against Hady Habib of Lebanon, is projected to meet reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals, in what would be a rematch of last month’s French Open final, won by the Spaniard in five sets. Alcaraz is relishing the prospect of competing alongside Nadal.
“There’s no better way to make your Games debut than by forming a doubles partnership with Rafa,” said Alcaraz. “We’ll do our best, with the greatest desire, with a lot of enthusiasm while making people enjoy it.”
Nadal and Alcaraz will open their campaign against Andrés Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina on Saturday.