What happened the last time Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal met at the Olympics? All you need to know
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are set to lock horns in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics singles event on Monday, July 29, at Roland Garros. It will be their 60th meeting overall and second at the Olympics, with the first going Nadal's way in the semifinals of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
The match lasted for two hours and 11 minutes, as the two players fought for three sets. The Spaniard secured the opening set before Djokovic swept the second to draw level. However, Nadal held his nerve to take the third set and confirm a silver medal for his country.
The match saw both players convert three break points each as the Serb hit nine aces and double-faulted five times. The Spaniard on the other hand managed only three aces but registered only one double fault.
The final rally of the match witnessed the 24-time Grand Slam champion serve to save a match point. After a couple of exchanges, he pushed Nadal far behind the baseline and received two overheads to return to deuce but failed both times.
On the first overhead, the Serb sent a smash down the opponent's direction which came back for the second overhead that he sent wide horribly to lose 4-6, 6-1, 4-6 despite winning more points, 82 of 160, in the match. This was notably their 14th duel and the 22-time Grand Slam champion took a then-10-4 lead in the head-to-head with the win.
The Serb's miss on the overhead gave birth to the notorious 'Djokosmash', the term synonymous with him for sending easy smashes wide or long from a dominating position at the net.
Nadal eventually went on to win the gold by defeating Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 in the final while Djokovic settled for a bronze after defeating James Blake 6-3, 7-6(4) in the bronze medal playoff.
Rafael Nadal dominated Novak Djokovic for two more seasons after Beijing Olympics before Serb won seven finals in a row against him
After the Beijing Olympics meeting, it took Novak Djokovic two seasons involving nine more battles to get a hold of the head-to-head record against Rafael Nadal. Out of those nine matches till the 2010 ATP Finals, he lost six more before recording seven straight wins against the Spaniard on the tour.
Notably, all the matches were finals of different tournaments, including the Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, Wimbledon, US Open in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2012.
The duo's overall head-to-head record currently stands at 30-29 in Djokovic's favor ahead of their second-round meeting 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday, July 29. The venue for the match is the Stade, Roland Garros, where Nadal and Djokovic have locked horns ten times, with the former coming out on top on eight occasions.
Whoever wins, will face either Dominik Koepfer or Matteo Arnaldi in the third round.