The Spanish player with thirteen crowns in the Parisian Grand Slam tournament beat the world number 1 on Tuesday and can dream of a new coronation.
They entered the court in May, they left it in June. And at the end, as often at Roland-Garros, it was Rafael Nadal who raised his arms to the sky. At the end of a breathtaking game, the Spanish player beat, on the night of Tuesday, May 31 to Wednesday, June 1, his rival Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Parisian tournament (6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 [7-4]). Possible last dance between two tennis giants, their 59th clash on the circuit lasted until the heart of the night – the evening session ending after 4:12 of play.
“To be honest, in every match I play, I don’t know if it will be my last here, at Roland-Garros, and in my career”, warned Rafael Nadal before the meeting. The Majorcan started the game as if he wanted to go into orbit. Forget the inevitable foot injury that has made him “live with the pain” on a daily basis for years and this body with soon thirty-six springs. Even if he abhors evening sessions, the player still wants to experience Parisian evenings. In front of his entire clan, a sign that they too feel the finish line getting closer, the Spaniard pushed back the inexorable.
Old couple knowing each other by heart, Nadal and Djokovic still manage to surprise each other, after 58 meetings around the world. In this unparalleled rivalry, the truth of one day is not that of the next day. We thought Nadal was tired by his long confrontation with the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime in the previous round? He attacks without sparing himself, seeming to seek the entry knockout. Facing Novak Djokovic, one of the few to have found the key to defeating him on his favorite surface, Rafael Nadal knows that any imprecision, any hesitation will be exploited at will. So, finding his shots of yesteryear, with formidable depth and returning inexorably, the Spanish player took control of the exchanges. In 2020, this strategy had paid off, and the Mallorcan had corrected his rival in the final of the Parisian tournament. In 2021, it was not enough: despite a pocketed first set, Nadal had ceded his crown to Djokovic.
An audience in unison behind “Rafa”
Will this 59th summit clash be the last? He had the smell of it. The Parisian evening crowd was not mistaken, keeping the position in the stands. If Nadal has not always been spared over the years by the public at Roland-Garros, who preferred the aesthetics of Roger Federer to him or simply an outsider, time does its job. And at a time when the Majorcan slips at press conference length that it could be his last dance at Roland-Garros, Paris prefers vertigo to silence. And pushed the “king of clay” to extend his reign until the end of the night.
Once again reduced to the role of the other, the opponent of the hero, the preventer from celebrating in circles, Novak Djokovic did not disassemble. The defending champion ended up flourishing in this unloved role, he who suffered so much to collect only the crumbs of love and recognition left by Federer and Nadal.
Revanchard, after a setback entry against an opponent who had regained his precision as a clay court surveyor, the world number 1 did not give up. “I didn’t start well, but coming back to one round everywhere, I said to myself that I was back” , explained the Serb after the meeting. In turn, after having started the second set badly, Djokovic took control of a part while offbeat, where the two dancers were never in rhythm. Hampered in his quest for greatness at the Australian Open by the country’s health rules – and his choice not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 – the Serb did not intend to give up his title without a fight.
Come on Rafa, the most obstinate is you,” shouted a spectator at the start of the third set. In reference to the quote from Roland Garros engraved this year on the frontispiece of the temple of tennis that is the Philippe-Chatrier court, “Victory belongs to the most obstinate” . In this matter, the “bull of Manacor” would be be even be almost obstinate.
Anchored in his certainties and this clay-court that has become his kingdom, Rafael Nadal lives in the moment. If by chance he won a fourteenth title at the Porte d’Auteuil on Sunday, the Spaniard could engrave “No tomorrow” on the other of the central court, as his trajectory is “at all costs”. “I said [during the tournament in] Rome that I was going to have my doctor with me here. And that having my doctor here allows me to do things that relieve me, “said the man with twenty-one Grand Slam trophies, promising to elaborate ” when [his] tournament is over “.
“I don’t know what will happen next”
Handicapped for years by necrosis of the scaphoid bone – Muller-Weiss syndrome – in his left foot, which leaves him little respite, Nadal does not hide that the treatments he receives could accelerate the end of his career. “I’m giving everything I have to try to play this tournament in the best possible conditions. I don’t know what can happen next, he summarizes. But here, I think it will be fine. »
For his part, Novak Djokovic was “not at all surprised” by the umpteenth rebirth of his rival. “It is not the first time that he has shown himself to be able to come back to 100%, and physically ready, a few days after being injured and barely able to walk, noted the world number 1. He’s done it many times in his career. »
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the Serb had the opportunity to equalize in two sets everywhere but failed to materialize. Conversely, after a decisive one-sided game, his Spanish opponent won the match without trembling.
“He managed to play his best tennis at key moments, he deserves this victory, without a doubt,” admitted Djokovic. If in their mano, the world number 1 still leads, 30 victories to 29, it is not in his garden of Roland-Garros that he will catch up with his rival in the number of Grand Slam tournaments won. Two steps from a new coronation, and after his demonstration in the quarters, Rafael Nadal will be the favorite for the semi-final against the German Alexander Zverev (world number 3), Friday, and for a possible final.
