Rafael Nadal admits he was not given ‘any respite’ by Novak Djokovic during their R2 encounter at Paris Olympics

Nadal also felt that he did not make things difficult for Djokovic in their Paris Olympics meeting.

Rafael Nadal admits he was not given ‘any respite’ by Novak Djokovic during their R2 encounter at Paris Olympics

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (via IMAGO)

Novak Djokovic extended his lead over Rafael Nadal in their head-to-head tally to 31-29 by relentlessly dominating the Spaniard. In under two hours, Djokovic denied Nadal a chance at evening out this record and dismissed him with a score of 6-1, 6-4.

During his post-match press conference, Rafael Nadal expressed his recognition of Novak Djokovic‘s dominance and admitted to not putting up enough of a fight. He believes he did not pose a threat to the Serb throughout the match and let join get through a lot easier than he would’ve done a couple of years ago. 

It has been a beating for a long time. We have to accept it as such and not hide it. We have to congratulate Novak for the high level he has shown. He has not given me any respite and I have not made it difficult for him.
Rafael Nadal said at the press conference

Graceful in defeat, the King of Clay did not take much away from his rival as he credited him with being the better player on the day. Despite suffering from fitness issues and being given no rest days on account of playing doubles too, Nadal fought valiantly in the second set, winning four games in a row to come back from a 0-4 deficit. However, this proved to be insufficient as Djokovic regained momentum in the next game and closed it out in the game after that. 

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Rafael Nadal avoids historic bagel against Novak Djokovic, loses anyway

In twenty years of fierce rivalry, Novak Djokovic has never managed to win a set 6-0 against his biggest rival, Nadal. He was on the cusp of it twice in their second-round clash at the Paris Olympics but fell short each time. 

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic posing for a picture before Paris Olympics match
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic posing for a picture before their Paris Olympics match (via X)

In the first set, the Serb had a commanding 5-0 lead and had broken Nadal twice already. However, Nadal denied him a bagel by winning his service game without dropping a point for the first time in the match. In the second set, Djokovic was racing to a quick finish to the match and once again took an enormous lead of 4-0. At that point, his focus seemed to waver and Nadal found his footing to start an epic comeback and equal the scores at 4-4. This momentum did not last and Djokovic won the next two games to seal the match. However, he was unable to bagel the King of Clay on both occasions.

Nadal, on the other hand, has bageled Djokovic twice in recent years. The first time was in the final of the 2019 Rome Masters, where he won 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. The more recent one was at the 2020 French Open, in the final again, where Nadal created history by equaling Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slams after he dispatched Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.

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