Nadal vs Djokovic lights up Olympics as ‘goofy Tassie’ eyes more gold

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will do battle once more when they meet at the Paris Olympics on Monday while Australia’s Ariarne Titmus is hotly tipped to win her second swimming gold of the Games.

Also on the third day of action, Britain’s Tom Daley will try to prevent an anticipated Chinese clean sweep in diving, while China and Japan will duel for gold in the men’s team final of the gymnastics.

Gold medals are also up for grabs in archery, canoeing, mountain biking, equestrian, fencing, judo, shooting and skateboarding.

The hottest ticket in town will be at Roland Garros, where Djokovic and Nadal will clash for a 60th time, with the Serb up in their rivalry 30-29.

Nadal has had a clear edge on the clay in the French capital down the years, but after more injury concerns and with his career winding down, the 38-year-old Spaniard said Djokovic was “clear favourite” this time.

“Of course it’s beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court,” Nadal said.

“But situations are completely different for him, for me. He’s being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years.”

Titmus eyes more gold

Another night of red-hot competition is in the offing in the pool, where the best swimmers on the planet will compete for five titles.

The last race of the night sees Titmus attempt to add the 200m freestyle crown to her dominant 400m triumph on Saturday, when she blew away rivals Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky to retain her title.

The 23-year-old Titmus is the favourite at 200m – lshe is the reigning champion and world record-holder.

Her biggest threat is fellow Australian Mollie O’Callaghan, who boasted the fastest time ever until Titmus smashed it in June.

Following her emphatic victory over 400m, when she led from start to finish, Titmus, who hails from Tasmania, said it was hard to take it all in.

“I’m just the same old goofy Tassie girl out here living out her dream,” she said. 

“I hope it goes to show: anyone can do what they want to do if they work hard and believe in themselves.”

The other swimming finals on Monday are in women’s 400m individual medley, men’s 200m freestyle, men’s 100m backstroke and women’s 100m breaststroke.

Pressure on China?

China are the unparallelled force in diving and at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games three years ago they hoovered up seven of the eight golds.

The one they did not win went to Daley and Matty Lee in the men’s synchronised 10m platform.

It was gold at last for Daley, who also has three bronze medals, the first coming at London 2012. He made his Olympic debut as a 14-year-old at Beijing 2008 and has been in the public eye ever since.

One of Britain’s highest-profile Olympians, he was the country’s male flag-carrier at Friday’s opening ceremony on the River Seine.

The 30-year-old said the pressure is on the Chinese.

“On paper you would consider them to win every single event, but it is the Olympic Games,” Daley, who will team up with Noah Williams, told the BBC.

“I know every single one of the Chinese divers knows it is their competition to lose, which brings a lot pressure and expectation.”

China scooped the first diving gold in Paris with victory ahead of the United States and Britain in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.

Ukraine fencing hope

In other sports, Yuto Horigome defends his men’s skateboarding street title. The event was postponed on Saturday because of rain.

Japan could snatch all three medals, with the 2023 world champion Sora Shirai and 14-year-old Ginwoo Onodera also strongly fancied.

The legendary American Nyjah Huston will have something to say about that.

Japan’s women skateboarders took gold and silver in street on Sunday.

In sabre fencing, Olga Kharlan of Ukraine, a four-time individual world champion, is chasing a second Olympic gold and fifth medal overall of her career.

The Italy-based fencing great told AFP in Paris that another gold will be an achievement against all the odds, following Russia’s invasion of her homeland.