Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could meet in a blockbuster second-round match at the Paris Olympics.
Roland Garros, where Nadal is a 14-time champion of the French Open, will host the action over the next ten days, as Olympic tennis is played on clay for the first time since 1992.
Carlos Alcaraz, who is also teaming up with Nadal in the doubles, is favourite to win gold for Spain, particularly after Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal, but Nadal and Djokovic would both have been eyeing deep runs.
However, should top seed Djokovic beat Australian Matthew Ebden and Nadal get past Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in their first-round matches, the two rivals will face off in the second round.
The pair have played each other 59 times over the last 18 years, with Djokovic edging the head-to-head with 30 wins. They last met at the French Open in 2022, when Nadal won that quarter-final clash, and the Spaniard holds a 20-8 advantage on clay.
Should that second-round match materialise, 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.
