When they compete at the Olympics in Paris, Novak Djokovic will be the favorite because the Spaniard defeated Marton Fucsovics in a tough match.

Rafael Nadal is adamant that Novak Djokovic will be the favorite when they play at the Olympics in Paris. On Sunday, the Spaniard fought his way to victory over Marton Fucsovics in the opening round.

Due to a thigh injury, Nadal’s participation in the singles was uncertain until the very last moment. As a result, he had to put in a lot of effort to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.The 38-year-old predicts that longtime adversary Djokovic will be the favorite when they square off for the 60th time. The 38-year-old has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles on Roland Garros’ clay.

For me, the circumstances are quite different for him. He’s acting with extreme rivalry. Since I haven’t been particularly competitive the past two years, I believe he is the obvious favorite in that scenario, said Rafael Nadal, who has an 8-2 head-to-head record against the Serb at Roland Garros.

“I’ll do everything in my power to present the best case possible in court, and then we’ll see how far I can push myself and how many issues I can cause him.”

Nadal and Djokovic will complete a circle of sorts with this newest installment of their generation-defining rivalry, which may be their last match. The two initially met as adolescents in the quarterfinals of the 2006 Roland Garros tournament.

Their meeting in the Olympics’ second round will be their earliest ever tournament meeting outside of round-robin matches in the season-ending ATP Finals.

Without a doubt, Nadal stated, “Playing against Novak has always been quite amazing.” “However, there is a distinction: typically, we compete for the championship or semifinals.

It’s the Olympics, after all, and each match is incredibly special. However, it is also true that I came into practically every match I played against Novak with a different scenario than I do now.

As a result, I find the match to be more challenging and unexpected. However, I always believe and I always have hope.”

“Violent will”

After winning the gold medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the doubles title in Rio four years later, Rafael Nadal is only participating in his seventh competition of 2024.

He advanced to the Bastad final last weekend, but on Wednesday, he had a setback in training that put his chances of competing in a fifth Olympics in jeopardy.

Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz won their first-round encounter in straight sets on Saturday, but not before Nadal’s right leg was extensively wrapped.

Similar strapping was visible on his leg against Fucsovics, but Nadal reported feeling “excellent.” “A little weary, of course. It was a nice test, even though it was a lengthy match, Nadal remarked.

“The good news is that I was able to play tennis for a while at a good level. That instills optimism every time. Then there’s the bad: I couldn’t maintain that high standard.”

Fucsovics hinted that the Spaniard might still be able to defeat Djokovic, who has a 30-29 career head-to-head advantage.

Fucsovics stated, “He’s not playing at his best level, but his fighting spirit is still at the top still since he was battling till the very end.”

“But he can still defeat him (Djokovic) if he has a good day.”