Three days into these Olympic Games, one is yet to go by without Rafael Nadal claiming something close to headline billing and that trend is set to continue into the second week after the honorary Parisian set up a mouthwatering clash with Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men’s singles.
Britons Jack Draper and Dan Evans also booked their places in round two, though the latter only after providing doubles partner Andy Murray with an injury scare ahead of the opening match of the Scot's final career tournament later on Sunday evening.
Defeat to Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics would surely have made this Nadal’s last singles outing at the French Open venue, where he is a 14-time champion, but instead the two-time gold medalist ensured his final Games rumbles on on two fronts, grafting his way to a 6-1 4-6 6-4 in a little more than two-and-a-half hours.
Having braved the Seine’s choppy waters for his starring role in Friday night’s Opening Ceremony, and then battled through a men’s doubles opener alongside Carlos Alcaraz late on Saturday night, this briefly looked set to be the Nadal’s most straightforward task of the Games so far.
Roared on by a near capacity Court Philippe-Chatrier from his first warm-up volley, the 38-year-old broke at the earliest opportunity to set the tone for a commanding opening set, only for Fucsovics to return the favour at the top of the second.
From there, the world No83 repelled every Nadal charge until serving to level the match, then wobbled briefly as the Spaniard wrestled the set back onto serve, only for his double-fault to offer Fucsovics an immediate second opening, this one grabbed.
Nadal had only made the decision to play singles on Sunday morning, returning to the court fewer than 20 hours after his win alongside Alcaraz, both before and after which he had flirted with the idea of following Murray’s lead by focusing on the doubles to ease his workload.
Having moved nicely in the opening set, the effects of fatigue and a heavily-strapped right thigh had begun to show as Fucsovics woke up to the value of his drop-shot, and heading into the decider the younger man by half-a-dozen years appeared to have the momentum.
Nadal, though, started best without being quite clinical enough. Fuscovics, having swapped his luminous shirt for a plainer white, forced three break points, three chances to go 3-1 up, but watched his rival save the lot.
In the moment, you sensed belief drain and a ruthless Nadal pounced, making the pivotal breakthrough himself in the very next game and then holding his nerve despite another double-fault on match point.
A first round exit for Fucsovics here followed the trend of his three Grand Slam outings so far this year and the waiting Djokovic, clearly, will pose a different level of challenge altogether.
The Serbian dropped just one game in winning his opener against Matthew Ebden on Saturday and suggested the manner of his victory against the doubles specialist, who was a late injury replacement and had not played tour-level singles in two years, was “not a good image” for the Games. A joust between the two most successful male players of all-time, on either Monday or Tuesday, ought to be more like it.
After opening day rain wiped out the action on all but Roland Garros’s indoor courts, Team GB’s tennis hopefuls had to wait until Sunday to get their Games underway.
The first of them fell before a ball had been hit, Cameron Norrie pulling out of his singles clash with Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor because of injury.
Thankfully, British No1 Draper did make it onto Court 12 and once there made short work of dispatching former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in straight sets, 6-1 6-4.
Draper will meet American seventh seed Taylor Fritz in the second round, where he will be joined by Evans, the beneficiary of Murray’s singles withdrawal when handed a late place in the singles draw earlier this week.
The 34-year-old looked to be similarly cruising when taking the opening set 6-2, but hurt his wrist in a fall midway through the second and lost three games on the spin thereafter as Echargui forced a decider. At 2-1 down in that, Evans was forced to save break point, but then reeled off five games in succession to win 6-2 4-6 6-2 and avoid a shock exit at the hands of the world No384.
Britain’s involvement in the women’s singles is over, however, after their lone representative Katie Boulter fell in straight sets to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.
Boulter will partner Heather Watson in the women’s doubles, with Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund of Germany due to be their first round opponents.
