Blog

For the best part of two ­decades, Rafael Nadalhas dominated the courts of Roland Garros like no tennis player has at any other tournament in the history of the sport. He has won the French Open 14 times, triumphing in 112 of his first 115 matches there. During certain periods, Nadal on Court Philippe-Chatrier has felt like the closest thing to an unbeatable force. A towering steel statue of the Spaniard now sits permanently in the tournament grounds even as he continues to play.

It is possible, though, that he has now played his final singles match on the courts that have defined his career. On Monday afternoon, rather than ­mutually elevating each other as they have so many other times in the past, the 60th meeting between Novak Djokovic and Nadal proved a total mismatch as the Serbian completely dismantled his old rival 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the Olympic Games.

From the second an unseeded Nadal was drawn into the path of Djokovic, the top seed, this was always going to be a moment. Even before the ­players emerged from the holding room, the stands were full and press seats had devolved into mayhem, with so many people desperate to catch a glimpse of a legendary rivalry.