Novak Djokovic lost just one game in his Olympic tennis opener on Saturday to set up a potential blockbuster clash against old rival Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic, chasing a first Olympic gold to add to his 24 Grand Slams, brushed aside Australia’s Matthew Ebden 6-0, 6-1 in just 53 minutes under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier.
Nadal, who has been carrying a thigh strain, will take on Djokovic for the 60th time if he gets past Marton Fucsovics of Hungary on Sunday.
Top seed Djokovic, whose Olympic career has only yielded a bronze at Beijing in 2008, holds a 30-29 head-to-head record over the Spaniard.
However, Nadal, who has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slams at the French Open, has an 8-2 head-to-head lead over the Serb at Roland Garros.
On Saturday, Djokovic was barely pushed by 36-year-old Ebden, who only made the tournament as an alternate after a series of injury pullouts.
Without a singles ranking, doubles specialist Ebden had not played a singles match for two years before he got an unexpected Olympics call.
“There were a lot of singles players that had plenty of time, there were alternates, that could have been told to come,” Djokovic, bidding for his first Olympic title, told reporters.
“So this part I don’t get and I really hope that the (tennis governing body) ITF along with the Olympics will consider changing this rule because it’s tough on Matthew.
“He told me it’s been over two years (since) he played an official singles match and he said this was his last singles match, he’s officially retired. So as I said, it’s not a great feeling for him being on the court like that.”
Djokovic needed just 24 minutes to wrap up the first set and was 4-0 up in the second before the Australian won a game.
Ebden, playing to a sympathetic crowd, celebrated by pulling his shirt over his head.
But that was as good as it got for the Australian Open doubles champion, who was broken six times and hit just seven winners to the 24 of Djokovic.
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