When their locks were long and their limbs super spry, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played for the first time on the senior tennis circuit in the quarter-final of the 2006 French Open. Nadal, 20, advanced after 19-year-old Djokovic retired due to injury.
Storied would be wry way to describe their journeys to Monday's second round tie in the men's singles competition at the 2024 Olympics.
Djokovic and Nadal have flourished to become the sport's two most successful male players.
Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slam tournaments - the most prestigious titles on the tour and a record 40 Masters crowns which carry only slightly less acclaim than the Grand Slam events. The Olympic gold medal though eludes the Serb.
Nadal went on to lift the French Open for the second year in a row after Djokovic pulled out of their first encounter.
Twelve more French Open championships have followed so too a few at the other Grand Slam competition venues in London, New York and Melbourne to take his tally to 22. Nadal also boasts the gold for Spain from the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Such is his renown in Paris that Olympic opening ceremony directors invited him in for a cameo appearance to carry the Olympic torch at the end of the spectacle.
"I never thought back in 2006 that we'd still be playing each other almost 20 years later," said Djokovic after their latest tussle.
Place
Fittingly, the 60th clash came on Court Philippe Chatrier - the birthplace of their rivalry at the Roland Garros stadium on the leafy western fringes of the capital.
Bright sunshine beamed into the combat zone. Fans a-fanning, shorts, T-shirts and heat.
It was precisely what the organisers ordered from the deities overseeing Olympic proceedings: transcendant names in a resplendent arena.
Opened in 1928 to provide a suitable venue for the French defence of the Davis Cup acquired the previous year in the United States, the stadium took the name of the French aviator who died during a dogfight in the first world war.
A plethora of power plays and set-tos have charged the clay courts over the years at Roland Garros - several involving Djokovic and Nadal in the thick of the action. Their latest meeting though will not displace any of the epics in the story books.
Form
It went according to the 2024 form book. Djokovic, the world number two, up against a man returning from a year off the circuit due to injuries and ranked 161 in the world.
Djokovic, who underwent surgery on a knee injury sustained during the 2024 French Open, waltzed into a 5-0 lead in the first set.
Nadal managed to win his first game 35 minutes into the match but Djokovic wrapped up the set 6-1.
And he continued the parade with a four-game streak. With victory seemingly just a yawn away, Djokovic started to make a few errors and Nadal gnawed his way back to 4-4.
Relief
"I'm very relieved," Djokovic said soon after the 6-1, 6-4 victory. "Everything was going my way, I was 6-1, 4-0 up but I played a sloppy service game and gave him chances."
Nadal of yore would have exploited the lifeline. A Nadal of yesteryear wouldn't have been in such dire straits.
And the 38-year-old conceded he needed to rethink his position after Djokovic extended his lead to 31-29 in the sport's most enduring rivalry.
"I have been suffering a lot of injuries the last two years," said Nadal. "So if I feel that I am not competitive enough to keep going or physically I'm not ready to keep going I will stop.
"I just try my best every single day, trying to enjoy a thing that I have been enjoying for so much time."
As Djokovic awaits the winner of the match between the Italian Matteo Arnaldi and Germany's Dominik Koepfer, Nadal will continue his Olympics in the men's doubles with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.
"Playing against Novak, without being able to damage him and without having the legs of 20 years ago is almost impossible now," Nadal lamented.
