PARIS (AP) – Rafael Nadal insists he can’t know for sure if a Roland Garros match could be his last at a place he loves, a place he loves.
For now, if he continues to win and continues to perform the way he did during his monumental quarter-final victory over longtime rival Novak Djokovic, which began in May and ended in June, Nadal will have a better chance of playing.
With a mix of brilliant strike performance and his trademark resilience, Nadal managed to overcome top-ranked French Open defending champion Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4), for to get one step closer to his 14th Clay Grand Slam championship and what would be the 22nd big trophy in total, adding to the records he already holds.
“One of those magical nights for me,” Nadal said.
For anyone lucky enough to be there – provided they can stay awake – or even for anyone watching from afar. The match started shortly after 9 pm on Tuesday and ended more than four hours later, after 1 am on Wednesday.
“Television decides,” Djokovic said of the late start. “This is the world we live in.”
The bracket said it was a quarterfinal, yes, but it felt like a final, from the quality of the game to the quality of the effort, from the anticipation that preceded it, to the atmosphere that surrounded it.
The only missing ingredient: There was no trophy awarded to the winner.
Nadal turns 36 on Friday, when he will face third-placed Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. When the topic of Nadal’s future was raised during his interview on the court, he smiled.
“By the way, I’ll see you in two days,” Nadal said. “That’s all I can say.”
It will be difficult for him to endure this match for the rest of the way.
No game, point, kick or, indeed, step came with a touch of carelessness. Both men did their best. Nothing came easy.
Nadal’s 3-0 lead in the second set didn’t help; Eventually, Djokovic picked it up and later said, “I thought, ‘Okay, I’m back in the game.’
But Djokovic’s 3-0 lead in the fourth was of no use to him, although he served for him at 5-3, even standing at one point from forcing the fifth twice. Nadal saved those set points and rehearsals there, then escaped with the final tiebreak, taking a 6-1 lead and never losing focus after his first three match points went awry.
“I lost to a better player today,” said Djokovic, who won 22 straight sets in the 49-minute start against Nadal. “I had my chances. He doesn’t use them. It is.”
This revelation was their 59th, more than any other two men who played each other in the Open era. Nadal reduced Djokovic’s lead to 30-29, while improving to 8-2 against his rival at Roland Garros.
Nadal already has 110-3 for his career on the spot. Two of those losses were against Djokovic, including in last year’s semifinals. This time Nadal made sure Djokovic stayed behind him in the helmet by 20. Nadal broke his three draw with Roger Federer, including winning the Australian Open in January, when Djokovic could not play because he had not been vaccinated against COVID. 19.
Before Nadal advanced to his 15th semifinal in Paris, Zverev reached his second in a row, overtaking 19-year-old rising star Carlos Alcaras 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7).
“It’s really not easier from here,” Zverev said after ending Alkaras’ 14-match winning streak.
“I told him online: ‘You will win this tournament many times, not just once,'” said Zverev, the 2020 US Open runner-up and gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. “I hope I can win it before it starts … beating us all.”
In the women’s event on Tuesday, 18-year-old American Coco Gauff and 28-year-old Martina Trevisan from Italy reached their first semifinal of the Grand Slam. 18th-placed Gauf defeated US Open 2017 champion and 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stevens 7-5, 6-2, while 59th-placed Treviso eliminated US Open finalist Leila Fernandez 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3.
The night cup was reserved for two players who know each other so well. Trends and tactics. Manners and moods.
So it should come as no surprise that they got involved in points so engaged, so long – 57 out of at least nine strokes, with one lasting 25 – that before some ended, the crowd gasped or “Ahhh! ”Or“ Aww! ”, Drawing a reproachful hiss of“ Shhhh! ” in response.
Judge Damien Dumusois could set a record if such records were set, often saying “S’il vous plait” to beg spectators to settle in and allow the game to continue.
Nadal heard much more support in the form of shouts of “Ra-fa!” or “Vamos!” or “Te quiero!” Only after Djokovic began to establish himself in the second set was his nickname “No-le!” is heard at any frequency.
Over time, the air grew colder – below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) – Nadal and Djokovic embodied the capital letters in clay in French and English on the face of the lower level of the arena, attributed to Roland Garros , the pilot of a World War I fighter, after whom the facility is named: “Victory belongs to the most stubborn.”
At the beginning and down the section, Nadal controlled the starting line back and forth, pushing and pulling Djokovic back and forth, until a clear winner was found. Djokovic reacted to his mistakes by rolling his eyes, shaking his head or extending his palms, as if to say, “What’s going on?”
Nadal showed no signs of slowing down or worrying about the occasional chronic pain in his left leg that stopped him from touring in the last half of 2021 and reappeared before the French Open.
Nadal showed no sign of fatigue from his battle in five sets against No. 9 Felix Auger-Aliasime in Sunday’s fourth round, which lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes, almost twice as long as Djokovic’s actual victory. day.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Djokovic said. “This is not the first time he has managed to get 100% fit, a few days after he was injured and barely able to walk.
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