The Roland Garros on Monday was full to the brim. There was not even an inch of space at the 15,000-capacity Philippe Chatrier court.

Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland was toying with local favourite Diane Parry but the crowd was okay with that. A fightback by Parry could have delayed what the Roland Garros and the world were waiting for. That was not to be and Swiatek cantered to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Soon the speakers at the Philippe Chatrier court blared “coming up Novak Djokovic versus Rafael Nadal” and the roar was deafening. By the twist of the Olympic Games draw, two of the biggest names of modern tennis were to square off in Round II of the men’s singles at the Paris Olympic Games.

Winners of 46 grand slam titles between them, one of them, Nadal, has hugged The Musketeers’ Trophy — the men’s trophy of the French Open — 14 times. The 60th match between Djokovic and Nadal was the event of the week’s first day.

The media section of the centre court is known as one of the biggest in world tennis yet it seemed a few hundred seats short for this match. Such was the demand, even though everyone was more or less sure who would have the last laugh.

And as expected it was Djokovic who advanced to the round of 16, winning 6-1, 6-4. He now leads the epic rivalry 31-29. The rivalry started in 2006 at the claycourts of Roland Garros and it would, in all probability, remain the witness to their last match 18 years later.

The World No.1 Serb, the top seed here, and the unseeded Spaniard were playing each other for the first time since the 2022 French Open. On Monday these two ageing stars — Nadal, 38, and Djokovic one year younger — wowed the crowd. Nadal did have his moments, like the late rally in the second set winning three games on the trot. He broke Novak for the first time in the 13th game of the match to make 4-2 in the second set and then was on even terms at 4-4, capping a brilliant rally with a delightful forehand return whichleft Djokovic stranded close to the net.

The Nadal fans, who outnumbered Djokovic’s, dreamt of a comeback or at least taking the game to the deciding set but the Serb was not someone to fritter away the advantage. He hit ace to set up the win. The centre court of Roland Garros will tell you stories of Nadal’s exploits, his statue at the entrance of the Philippe Chatrier shows him caught in the midst of one of his signature strokes.

But on Monday Nadal was a pale shadow of himself. As he waved to his legions of fans trudging back to the locker room, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

In what could be the last year of his chequered career and his final Olympic Games — he has two gold medals from 2008 Beijing (singles) anddoubles in 2016 Rio — Nadal has been struggling to find his feet.

The retirement question is irritating him too. “I cannot spend every day thinking about whether it is the last or not, because otherwise it is impossible,” he said.“I have been suffering a lot of injuries the last two years so if I feel that I am not competitive enough, or physically if I am not enough ready to keep going, I will stop and I will let you know.”

Ravaged by injuries, he had skipped a training session after picking up a new one here too, Nadal now has the chance to win a doubles medal with Carlos Alcaraz. “I have the doubles left. It is not time to get down. When I finish here I will make the decisions I have to make,” Nadal was direct.

Novak remained in the mix for a singles gold. He signed autographs and took selfies with the Serbian fans, before heaving tennis balls into the stands. He is clearly the favourite to bite his maiden Olympic Games gold medal.