By: Eva Li

In Paris on Monday, Novak Djokovic dispatched Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics men’s singles at Roland Garros. In the 60th meeting between two of the greatest tennis players of all time, who share 46 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic showed Nadal no mercy. This was the biggest test of the Spaniard’s level since 2022, when he won the French Open on this very court, beating Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Despite a stunning run of four games in the second set. In which Nadal showed flashes of his old self and exploited the scar tissue he has inflicted on Djokovic over the years, Djokovic recovered to see out the second set.

For pretty much everyone watching this great rivalry morph into victory, it was hard not to feel sympathy for Nadal. That was not the case for Djokovic, and with good reason. Not only does he have an Olympic gold medal to win, but he has suffered more heartbreak on this court at the hands of Nadal than most, having lost to him eight times.

Djokovic probably could have beaten Nadal regardless of the latter’s skill, the Spaniard unable to rev up to the level required when facing the Wimbledon finalist. Still, Djokovic made sure to exploit the 14-time Roland Garros champion’s most glaring weaknesses, time after time. Djokovic ruthlessly took advantage of Nadal’s movement with a string of devastatingly effective drop shots, and while Nadal chased a couple down, there were plenty more that he simply missed.

The injuries to the middle of his body and his back the past two
Years have contributed to a major decline, and against the best returner
in the history of the sport, that figured to be a problem.

The warning sign that this could be an ugly afternoon for Nadal occurred
in the very first set. With Nadal facing break point, he nailed a
115mph serve, one of his hardest of the day down the middle of the
court. Against a lot of players, the ball doesn’t come back.
Djokovic stretched for it and stabbed a forehand at Nadal’s feet.

Nadal missed his forehand wide after it
“ticked the net”, and Djokovic had the advantage he
would never come close to giving up. It was a
microcosm of Nadal’s afternoon. Too many soft serves,
so many difficult returns, and so many errors on balls
he didn’t have time to set up for.

With Djokovic leading 6-1, 4-0, the main hope for Nadal was that he
could avoid losing a bagel set to the Serbian for the first time in his
career.He managed to do that by holding serve for 4-1, and everyone on
Chatrier breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then things became strange. Djokovic, who was hitting really well at first started to lose.

A minor aberration perhaps, but then at 4-3, suddenly Djokovic had to
deal with scoreboard pressure for the first time in the match. Not just
scoreboard pressure against anyone, but against the best clay-court
player of all time and his greatest rival.

Suddenly it was Nadal who was using the drop shot to take away
Djokovic’s legs rather than the other way around, and it was the Serbian
missing routine shots. The tension in Djokovic was most painfully
obvious when he made a mess of a smash that set Nadal up for an easy
forehand to break for 4-4 — a shot that has haunted him on numerous
occasions.

Nadal raised his level for sure but on a sweaty Parisian day, this really
felt like a rare case of Djokovic feeling the heat. And sure enough, the
spell was broken in the next game when Djokovic broke to lead 5-4. He
then served out the match the game after, and those desperate for this
match to have turned into a contest were left wondering what might have
been.

What unfolded was something far more typical of Djokovic’s second-
round matchups, not just because of the lopsided scoreline but because
of how he overwhelmed his opponent. The same things that so often
happen to these unlucky souls also happened to Nadal on Monday
afternoon.

Djokovic defanged Nadal’s serve, sending him backpedalling instead of
moving into the court.

He made him play extra ball after extra ball, until Nadal was doing what
all the other poor souls do — trying to hit the perfect shot from a
position on the court where that is a nearly impossible task. Nadal swung
wildly from several feet behind the baseline all afternoon. He tried to
smack winners from outside the sideline. In a typical match, he might be
good for a few of those but not many, even when at his best.

Djokovic meanwhile served and pushed forward, getting easy shots on
balls around the service line off survival shots. He minimized his
mistakes, mostly because his opponent didn’t force him to hit too many
shots from spots on the court where mistakes happen.

Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5665535/2024/07/29/rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-olympics-tennis/?source=nyt_sports