Today marks the Olympics draw for tennis, and with it, plenty of high-profile encounters have instantly been thrown up.
The full Olympics tennis draw can be viewed here.
Naturally, people have flocked to see where stars like Carlos Alcaraz have been placed, but equally, legendary veterans like Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will also command attention too given this will almost definitely be their final games.
Fortunately, with the latter duo, fans need not look too far apart…
Novak Djokovic reacts to Rafael Nadal Olympics draw
Speaking to Sportface immediately after hearing the news of his Olympics draw, naturally, there could only be one standout fixture.
After all, we have seen the legendary Serbian clash with most players on tour nowadays from Alcaraz to Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and more.
But, one clash we have been starved of is Djokovic vs Nadal, with their last meeting coming in 2022, as the Spaniard overcame him in the Roland Garros quarter-finals.
Now set to return to that site, the draw has posed that, should they both win their opening round, they will meet in round two.
Djokovic reacted: ‘I am very excited and have high expectations for the Olympics. I feel good respect and I feel more ready than I was before Wimbledon. The fact that I am not a favourite in the odds is a motivation for me. The Olympic Games have always been a big challenge for me. I focused all the preparation on this tournament.
‘I am aware that an era with Nadal and Murray’s retirements after the Games is ending. I think my career is also coming to an end, but I believe there are and there will be tennis players who can carry the weight of being the best. It would be exciting to play against Nadal in the second round.’
Novak Djokovic has a nightmare Olympics draw
Having enjoyed arguably one of the easier runs to the final we have seen recently in Wimbledon, things could not have shifted more aggressively in the other direction for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After all, whilst he may start out with an easy clash with Australia’s Matthew Ebden, things then start to heat up.
One of Nadal or Márton Fucsovics then awaits, with the latter being a notorious giant killer, before he is expected to play the in-form youngster Arthur Fils in round three.
Should Djokovic have overcome this round of obstacles, things will unsurprisingly get no easier as one of Sebastian Baez or Stefanos Tsitsipas will be next up.
And the semi-final could see him come face to face with the defending champion Alexander Zverev, or one of Fritz or Lorenzo Musetti, who he defeated in the Wimbledon semi-final.
Carlos Alcaraz, his latest big adversary, will almost certainly await him in the final.
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