As Novak Djokovic renewed his storied rivalry with Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, where the pair first met 19 years ago, expectations were understandably high. Both players have seen better days, what with their strapped-up body parts and a combined age of 75, but they remain icons of the sporting world, with 46 grand slam titles between them, and the 60th meeting between the pair was as eagerly anticipated as any other.
It barely mattered that Djokovic is without a title this season and underwent knee surgery less than two months ago, or that the injury-plagued Nadal came into the contest with only a dozen matches under his belt this year. This was appointment viewing, and the clamour to witness the legendary duo’s second-round meeting at the Paris Olympics – and possibly their last meeting anywhere – extended even to the sizeable press area on Court Philippe Chatrier, which became so packed that scores of queuing journalists were turned away.
But for all the hallmarks of an epic occasion, Nadal had counselled caution beforehand, stressing that the old certainties are no longer what they once were, and his warning proved well founded. The 38-year-old Spaniard has moved heaven and earth to be competitive at these Olympics, skipping Wimbledon to continue his preparations on clay, and when he reached his first final in two years in Bastad just over a week ago, showing flashes of his former self, he appeared to be on the verge of a meaningful return to form. Nadal, however, was circumspect, pointing to his difficulty in maintaining his level and intensity from first ball to last, and expressing dissatisfaction with his backhand. Such pronouncements rarely owe anything to kidology where Nadal is concerned, and clearly Djokovic was listening.
Rarely has Nadal been so thoroughly outclassed on a clay court. Djokovic came in with a clear game plan and implemented it to near-perfection. A sequence of beautifully executed drop shots and abrupt injections of pace made plain his intentions from the outset, the Serbian top seed testing Nadal’s recovery from a recent thigh injury, but also asking bigger questions. How confident was Nadal in his body? Was he prepared to suffer and, if so, how much? Did he truly believe?
In varying degrees, Nadal was found wanting on all fronts. His movement was sprightly, but not sprightly enough to cope with Djokovic’s power and touch. He struggled to summon the explosive athleticism of old, too often caught on his heels as the Serb feasted on his serve and drilled backhands into places where Nadal did not want to be. Unable to exert sustained pressure, Nadal became a bystander at his own execution, powerless to intervene as Djokovic pocketed 10 of the first 11 games. A rout appeared inevitable until a spirited late fightback added a veneer of respectability to the scoreline, but Djokovic was good value for his 6-1, 6-4 victory.
“It’s simple, one player was much better than the other,” said Nadal. “For an hour, it was hard to digest what was happening, with physical exhaustion and the mental side. There was suffering, because the game was blatantly going badly for me. He was stronger in every aspect, and he was not giving me anything.
“I wasn’t able to play at the level I needed to create problems for him. I didn’t have the quality of shot I needed, and I also don’t have the same legs I had 15 years ago. Without ball quality and the legs of 15 years ago, you are not going to create problems for the best in history. The analysis is easy: I have not been at my level; he has, and the result was costly.”
At a venue where Nadal has won 14 of his 22 majors, etching his legend so deeply in the terre battue that a steel statue stands in his honour within a stone’s throw of Court Philippe Chatrier, it was the most sobering of afternoons. Only as humiliation beckoned did he rouse himself, rallying from 6-1, 4-0 down to level the second set at four games apiece. Even that sequence began with a donation from Djokovic, who screwed a forehand wide to gift Nadal his first break point of the afternoon, then hit a jittery double fault. To his credit, Nadal took full advantage, and when he punctuated his comeback by winning the point of the afternoon, rising to meet a bounce smash from Djokovic with an overhead of his own, then rolling a forehand pass for a winner, anything seemed possible.
As Nadal raised a fist in triumph and the crowd, fiercely loyal to him throughout, began chanting his name more loudly than ever, Djokovic kept a cool head. Pushing for another break, he patiently maintained pressure on Nadal’s serve, shrugging off the disappointment of missing three break points to convert a fourth with an immaculate drop shot. Two aces in the final game – where Nadal, to his evident dismay, returned an inviting second serve long at 30-30 – sealed victory for Djokovic as well a measure of revenge for his semi-final defeat to Nadal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
“[I’m] very relieved, because everything looked like going my way [at] 6-1 4-0,” said Djokovic, who now leads his career-defining rivalry with Nadal by 31 wins to 29. “I got maybe a little bit too comfortable there at 4-1, played a pretty sloppy service game, and you can’t give any chances to Nadal, because he’s going to use them, he’s going to come back, especially on this court. With the crowd getting involved, obviously it was very tough.
“Crucial game at 4-4, last game with the old balls, I just tried to break his serve and serve against the wind with new balls. I did well last couple of serves but, wow, it was a very, very close encounter, especially in the second. I’m very pleased with the way I played.”
While Djokovic will continue his pursuit of an Olympic gold medal, the only significant omission from his trophy collection, Nadal can reflect on what has already been a memorable campaign in Paris. His prominent role in the opening ceremony, where he received the Olympic torch from Zinedine Zidane and carried it down the Seine alongside Serena Williams, will linger long in the memory, while his tenacious opening-round win over Hungary’s Márton Fucsovics suggested he still has much to give, not least alongside Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s doubles.
Whether any of that will be enough to encourage him to continue playing beyond this year remains to be seen. Before losing to Alexander Zverev in the opening round of this year’s French Open, he had lost only three times in 115 matches at Roland Garros; now he has been beaten twice in two months. But with so much glory behind him – including two Olympic gold medals, the first won in Beijing in 2008, the second in doubles with Marc López in Rio de Janeiro eight years later – Nadal insists he is at peace with whatever the future holds.
“I have been suffering a lot of injuries the last two years,” he said. “So if I feel that I am not competitive enough to keep going, or physically I’m not ready to keep going, I will stop and I will let you know. But I don’t think every day about if I am retiring or not.
“If that’s the last match here, I’ll be in peace. I did my best and I can’t complain.”