Tennis fans — and all sports fans — were treated to the renewal of a legendary rivalry on Monday, July 29, as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal faced off in the second round of the Olympic singles competition. The Serbian defeated "the King of Clay" at Roland-Garros, and will next face Stefano Tsitsipas of Greece in the quarterfinals on Thursday, August 1 at 1:00 p.m. ET. 

Djokovic and Tsitsipas have faced off 13 times, with Djokovic winning 11 of those matches. Djokovic's victories over Tsitsipas include the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open.

The rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is one of the best in tennis history. The two all-time greats have faced each other 60 times, including in all four major finals. The rivalry is also extremely close, as Djokovic just edges out Nadal for the lifetime advantage with a 31-29 record against the Spaniard. 

Rafael Nadal is accurately nicknamed "The King of Clay," as he is the best player to ever grace the clay courts of the iconic Roland Garros. At the French Open, Nadal has a ridiculous 112-4 record, winning the Grand Slam event a record 14 times. 

Novak Djokovic has handed Nadal several of his losses at the clay courts of Roland-Garros, beating him twice at the venue. Djokovic first bested Nadal at Roland-Garros in the 2015 quarterfinal and then again in the semifinal in 2021.

Rafael Nadal has competed in three previous Olympic Games. He has two gold medals, winning the singles event at the 2008 Games in Beijing and taking home first place in the doubles event at the 2016 Games in Rio. His hopes of taking home another medal from Paris were dashed after being knocked out of both the men's singles and men's doubles tournaments. 

Novak Djokovic has never won a gold medal at the Olympics. He has one medal, a bronze in the singles event from the 2008 Games in Beijing. He has also finished in fourth place at the Games twice, including when he lost to Alexander Zverev in the semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. 

Novak Djokovic currently has 24 Grand Slam Majors, two more than Rafael Nadal's 22 and the most in men's tennis history.

Djokovic surpassed Nadal with his 2023 French Open title. He has 10 Australian, three French, seven Wimbledon and four U.S. titles, while Nadal has a respective two, 14, two and four.