It was a contest for the ages, a clay-court war that pushed both men to their physical, mental and emotional limits and at times seemed to redefine the geometry of a tennis court. And for once, when it was all over, the last man standing was not Rafael Nadal. The French Open has long been the Spaniard’s personal fiefdom, but Novak Djokovic stormed the Parisian citadel with tennis of breath-taking quality to unseat the defending champion and reach his sixth final.
Beating Nadal at Roland Garros has long been regarded as one of the toughest challenges in sport, and over the course of four hours and 11 minutes Djokovic, the champion of five years ago, drew on all his fabled willpower and resolve to produce clay-court tennis of a quality that perhaps even he did not know he possessed. His 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory, which the Serb said he regarded as one of the three finest performances of his career, will surely go down among the greatest matches in the tournament’s history.
Nadal, a 13-time champion at Roland Garros, had previously lost just twice on the Parisian clay. There were mitigating circumstances on both occasions. In 2009, when he was struggling with tendinitis in his knees and trying to come to term with his parents’ divorce, the Spaniard was beaten in the fourth round by Robin Soderling. His only other defeat came at the hands of Djokovic in 2015, when he was enduring a prolonged slump in form and confidence. There were no such factors at play here. Nadal arrived in Paris fresh from a three-set victory over Djokovic in the Rome Masters final last month, and had scythed his way to the semi-finals with ruthless efficiency.
Djokovic, who will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final as he seeks to to move within one major of Nadal and Roger Federer, was in no doubt about the magnitude of his achievement. “Definitely the best match that I was part of ever in Roland Garros for me, and [one of the] top three matches that I ever played in my entire career, considering quality of tennis, playing my biggest rival on the court where he has had so much success and has been the dominant force in the last 15-plus years,” he said.
“Each time you step on the court with him, you know that you have to kind of climb Mount Everest to win against this guy here.”
When Nadal raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set, memories of last year’s final were instantly rekindled. Djokovic was humbled on that occasion, conceding a love set and collecting just seven games in total. This time the Serb was able to arrest the Spaniard’s momentum, finding his range on the return and gradually striking the ball with greater length and penetration. Nadal finally served out the set at the second time of asking, but not before Djokovic had clawed back three games.
Now Djokovic had the bit between his teeth. He disturbed Nadal’s rhythm by mixing looped topspin shots with flat, ruthlessly accurate strikes into the corners. He found extreme angles with his cross-court backhand, pulling the Spaniard wide on his forehand before peppering his backhand with a barrage of short, wide balls that sent Nadal scurrying into the doubles alley. It was clay court tennis of the highest order, ingenious in its conception, breath-taking in its execution, and for a time the champion looked lost.
The key to the match was a titanic third set in which Djokovic played immaculate tennis and Nadal somehow found a way to match him step for gruelling step. Nadal twice broke back when all seemed lost, finding the lines, throwing himself at lost causes, forever forcing his opponent to hit one more shot. At times the exchanges bordered on the otherworldly. It was like a first visit to the Louvre, each new piece of artistry seemingly impossible to surpass until suddenly you looked up to see something of even greater splendour.
“To this point, it’s one of the best matches I’ve ever seen,” tweeted Andy Roddick. Andy Murray concurred. “You cannot play better clay court tennis than this,” he wrote. “It’s perfect.”
Nadal fought his way to a set point at 5-6 only to be thwarted by a courageous Djokovic drop shot. The ensuing tiebreak, a miniature masterpiece in its own right, featured some sublime exchanges – and some costly mistakes from Nadal. The Spaniard opened with a double fault and at 3-4, having stretched the rubber-limbed Djokovic from pillar to post, he made an extraordinary error, sending an inviting forehand volley beyond the baseline with the court at his mercy. Djokovic needed no further encouragement.
By now even the French government was rising to the occasion. At the end of the third set, it was announced that an exception had been granted to the 11pm Covid curfew, allowing the crowd to stay on until the end of the match. The cheers were long and raucous. When a tennis match compels a national government to bend its laws, you know it must be special.
There was a final gesture of defiance from Nadal when he broke at the beginning of the fourth, but as fatigue set in Djokovic came storming back to win six games in a row.
“No doubt he deserved to win,” said Nadal. “It probably was not my best day out there. Even if I [fought] and I put a lot of effort [in], the position on the shots has not been that effective tonight. Against a player like him that takes the ball early, [when] you are not able to take him out of his positions, then it is very difficult.”
Djokovic, who has won 18 grand slam titles, will become the first player in the open era to win all four majors twice if he wins against Tsitsipas on Sunday.
“My opportunities to win here are not eternal,” said Nadal. “In our sport, you must admit both victory and defeat. I do know that I can’t win the tournament 15, 18, 20 times. It’s not a disaster at all.
“I’m sad, I lost at the most important tournament of the year for me. But it’s just a defeat on a tennis court you know, and tomorrow I’ll be at home with my family. That’s OK.”