Rafa Nadal does his sprint back to the baseline ahead of his 1st match at the Paris Olympics. 2-time gold medalist. 14 Grand Slams won on this court. Legend in the heart of every one in this crowd. The king is ready for another battle. Vamos. 🇪🇸👑
For the 60th time: Rafael Nadal set for mouth-watering Novak Djokovic Olympic Games clash after brilliant Fucsovics win
ATPSunday, 28 July 2024 at 17:58
After many doubts, Rafael Nadal entered the Philippe Chatrier court to play the men's singles of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games but the Novak Djokovic tie is on.
In the first round, the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics was waiting for him, and after an overwhelming first set for the Spaniard, the match was complicated but he still managed to pull it off and win 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Nadal stunning in first set
Nadal started the match with the best version of Rafa. He gave a stratospheric level throughout the first set, in which he destroyed his opponent physically, tennis and mentally. The only small downturn he had was in the 3-0, after the first change of side, when Fucsovics took the opportunity to win his only game of the set, but the Spaniard had no mercy at all and endorsed a resounding 6-1, closing out by holding his serve.
Fucsovics ties in a set where Nadal went from strength to strength
The start of the second set was similar to the first but with the roles reversed. This time it was Fucsovics who was dominating the match completely. The typical drop in tension and concentration after winning a set, as already happened in the doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, allowed the Hungarian to take the lead with an early break and move to 4-1 and 15-40 up on Rafa's serve.
But Nadal was not going to give up easily, starting to play more tactical than physical. And he regained the break when Fucsovics was serving to level the match. However, with his own serve he got into serious difficulties, giving the world number 83 a double chance to close the set to the rest. That's when he again pulled out all his mental strength to save them. Instead, the Hungarian came up with another chance and a bad drop shot from Rafa gave him the set.
Nadal takes a more epic course than expected
The third and final set started with both players having a lot of problems in their service games. They managed to pull them through but with 2-2 on the scoreboard Rafa went a step further and broke. From that moment on, neither Fuscovics nor Nadal suffered a break, and the Spaniard closed a match more complicated than it had seemed at the beginning with a 6-4 final.
In the second round he will face his arch nemesis on the court Novak Djokovic. The only man who has more Grand Slam titles than him, the player he has already faced 59 times on the biggest stages of the tennis world, in what could be the last duel of the best male rivalry in the history of the racket sport.
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