PrashantNews
When two tennis greats Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal met for a second round match at Roland Garros on Monday, the much-hyped encounter at Paris Olympics became a question of prestige for both. It was natural.
The reasons were many. One main reason was that it was the last chance for the 37 year old Serb to win a gold medal in Olympics. He has won only bronze in 2008 at Beijing.
And obviously, Nadal (38) would also not have liked to be ousted by his arch rival Djokovic at the clay ground of Roland Garros where he is considered as an undisputed king. Nadal has won 14 French Open titles, a record which may not be broken easily. Despite winning an Olympic gold at Beijing, Nadal came to Paris only hoping to win his second gold medal.
In the nutshell, no one wanted a defeat. But in a tennis match, a win or a defeat is must. In this particular encounter, Djokovic scored a comfortable (uncomfortable for Nadal) victory 6-1, 6-4 in the 60th encounter which may be the last.
It is very difficult to sum up everything in few lines about the historic encounter between the two tennis greats.
Before the Paris Olympic match, the two legendry players had met in 2022 at French Open where Nadal had overpowered Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Nadal went on to win his 14th historic title in that year.
The last year was also bad for Nadal as he lost in the first round at French Open which was eventually won by Djokovic. This year, the Spaniard didn’t appear due to injuries leaving the French open for Carlos Alcaraz to win the title. And now, lots of people are asking who will retire first – Djokovic or Nadal? There is only one year age difference between the two. And both have defied age so far.