The 22-time Grand Slam champion and 2008 gold medal winner, Rafael Nadal, is in the second round of the men’s singles at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Yesterday the King of Clay (38) had to dig deep at his favourite venue, Roland Garros, to beat Márton Fucsovics of Hungary.

Nadal beat Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, and 6-4 to advance to the second round where he will face arguably his toughest opponent Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Rafael Nadal with the Olympic torch. Picture: X.

Djokovic, in turn, thrashed the South African-born Australian Matthew Ebden 6-0 and 6-1 in the first round.

Nadal said he looks forward to another chapter in the great rivalry he has had with Djokovic over the years.

Novak Djokovic. Picture: X.

“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, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favourite. I’m going to try my best to bring the best to the court and then let’s see how far I can go and how many problems I can create for him.”

Nadal and Djokovic will square off on the clay courts of Roland Garros on Monday.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg/mvh