The entire sporting world had its undivided focus on the tennis discipline of the 2024 Olympics ongoing at the Roland Garros. Long-time rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic faced each other for what many presume to be the “Last Dance” of their storied rivalry. Thanks to Nadal’s second-set brilliance, he escaped a humiliating loss.
Rafael Nadal had a 96.6% win rate when playing at Roland Garros before Monday. He also had a huge 20-8 head-to-head advantage over Novak Djokovic on the clay court surface. But this didn’t intimidate the Serb as he produced some of his best tennis and win the first set 6-1.
In the second set, the 24-time Grand Slam winner looked equally if not more dangerous. After winning the first 4 games in a row, it almost seemed as though the Belgrade native was eyeing for a bagel. But a pleasantly surprising resurgence resulted in Nadal winning four games in a row.
Nadal just Avoided the Bagel from Djokovic.
Djokovic stil haven’t been able to Bagel Nadal in the history of tennis Sport— JUJU PUNTER. Legitcalculator (@jujupunter) July 29, 2024
By surviving the embarrassing second set loss, Rafa keeps an impressive streak alive – never suffering a 0-6 loss at Roland Garros.
Because the former World No.1 has played 117 matches, it is incredible that he’s never suffered a 0-6 loss across almost two decades. From a perspective, the likes of all-time greats such as Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic are a few former French Open champions to suffer 0-6 losses on the surface.
Novak Djokovic was in the driving seat for most of Monday’s encounter though and emerged victorious, 6-1, 6-4. The win guaranteed him a spot in the third round and improve his record as the only player in history to defeat the King of Clay on multiple occasions at Roland Garros.
In fact, out of Nadal’s 5 losses at the venue, 3 of them have come against Djokovic (2015, 2021 and 2024). By defeating Nadal, Djokovic will certainly witness a boost in his morale. The win will also instill the thought of him potentially winning his first gold medal at the Olympic Games.
