France – “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal defeated Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the men’s singles at the Paris 2024 Olympics on July 28th.

Nadal’s opening match in the men’s singles appeared straightforward as he only needed 31 minutes to win the first set 6-1. However, Fucsovics made a strong comeback by winning the second set and taking an early lead in the third set. Nadal’s resilience helped him overcome the tough moments and advance to the second round, setting up a classic clash with Novak Djokovic.

Fucsovics continuously led early in the second set and then won it 6-4. The Hungarian player continued to lead 40-advantage in Nadal’s first service game of the third set. The “King of Clay” saved three break points in a row before winning the subsequent return game. From there, Nadal held serve to win the decisive set 6-4.

Nadal converted four out of eight break points, while Fucsovics capitalized on only two out of ten opportunities. This allowed the Spanish player to escape the danger at Philippe Chatrier court. At the Roland Garros complex, Nadal has only lost four of his previous 116 matches in his career.

“I played at a high level for about an hour,” Nadal said after the match. “But since I don’t compete often, I can’t maintain the energy and focus for long periods. Hopefully, I can do that in the coming days.”

Nadal will face Djokovic in the second round of the men’s singles at 6:30 PM today, July 29th, on Philippe Chatrier court. Djokovic leads their head-to-head record 30-29. The last time the two players met was in the 2022 Roland Garros quarterfinals, where Nadal won 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). Djokovic still lacks an Olympic gold medal in his illustrious collection, while Nadal has already completed his set with a singles gold in 2008 and a doubles gold in 2016.

“It’s great to face one of my two biggest rivals in my career, especially on Philippe Chatrier court,” Nadal said about the match against Nole. “But the circumstances are very different for us now. Djokovic is still highly competitive, and I’m not, so he will be the favorite. Let’s see how much trouble I can give him.”

Besides the match against Djokovic today, July 29th, the 38-year-old player will also team up with Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the men’s doubles tomorrow, July 30th, against the winning pair from the Netherlands-Hungary matchup.