Novak Djokovic Cruises Past Rafael Nadal In Olympics In What Could Be Their Last Head-To-Head Match

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Rafael Nadal have been two of the most dominant tennis players of the past generation. On Monday, we may have seen them play each other for the last time.

The two legends of the sport faced off in a second-round matchup of the Summer Olympics at Roland Garros (home of the French Open), a court Nadal has come to know and love over the years. After all, he earned the nickname "The King of Clay" in large part by winning 14 of his 22 major titles on this same court (not losing a single final in those 14 appearances). So, despite dealing with hip and abdominal pain for the past year and a half, Nadal (38) had a mental edge walking onto that court.

The only problem is that he was facing perhaps the most mentally formidable opponent the sport has ever seen in Djokovic (37). And that proved to be too much.

In a best-of-three match, Djokovic defeated his Spanish rival in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. For nearly all the match, Djokovic looked the part of the more dominant player, even though Nadal did bring the second set to 4-4 after winning this insane rally.

However, most of the match was going Djokovic's way, even when Nadal was able to match him on long rallies.

With that dominating win, Djokovic is now 31-29 all-time in meetings against Nadal. While their rivalry was slightly overshadowed by the Spaniard’s rivalry with Roger Federer, it is still nonetheless one of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever seen.

Djokovic now heads into the third round to play against an opponent yet to be determined on Wednesday. Despite all the accolades that he has won in his career, he has yet to win a gold at the Olympics. 

Before the tournament began, he said that that was something he wanted to change.

"Well, the Olympic Games and US Open are the two big goals for the rest of the year for me really," Djokovic said. "I'm hoping I can be at my best [for] those two tournaments. That's all I can say right now."

He’s certainly off to a good start to achieving that goal.