Novak Djokovic's dominance in the tennis classic in Paris - in the second round of the Olympic tournament, in the 60th match between them, the Serbian tennis player defeated his great rival Rafael Nadal and advanced to the next round.
Djokovic was excellent, he won 2:0 (6:1, 6:4) and registered his 31st victory in duels with Rafa, who remained at 29 triumphs. True, Nadal woke up from the middle of the second set, from 4:0, reached 4:4, but he couldn't do more than that.
This was the first match between the great tennis players after May 31, 2022, when Nadal won 3:1 in the Roland Garros quarterfinals. But since then, Rafa has been on the decline, it was clear even today that he is far from his recognizable level, while on the other side he was a very upbeat opponent.
Before this match, there was a question whether Nadal would retire or, after all, play another tennis blockbuster. And after today's meeting, the question remains whether this is the last match between the two tennis players and whether today Rafa played the last match of his career on the court where he wrote the history of tennis.
From the first point, Djokovic dictated the rhythm, he was focused, he wondered about everything on the court... The Serbian tennis player made a great return, reached a break already in the second game, then in the fourth he once again took away his rival's serve and quickly took the lead in the sets.
In the fourth game of the first set, Djokovic also had one nice move - the referee called one of Nadal's shots as an out and awarded the point to Djokovic. But Djokovic admitted that the ball was good, so Nadal was awarded a point.
Đoković continued in the same rhythm in the second set - he made two breaks and took a 4:0 lead. But then Nadal played up to the level of the game, and Djokovic made mistakes. The Spaniard returned one, then a second break and went from 4:0 to 4:4.
This was followed by Nadal's service game in which Djokovic had four break points. He used the fourth, then confirmed the break and advanced to the next round.
In the next round, Djokovic will play against the winner of the match between Kepfer and Arnaldi.
Bonus video:
