Rafael Nadal has experienced many defining moments at Roland Garros, and two hours and four minutes into a spellbinding 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime that secured a quarter-final showdown with Novak Djokovic, he seemed to have fashioned another.
Maybe it was the unseasonably chilly weather, maybe it was the emotional hangover from watching his beloved Real Madrid win the Champions League the previous evening, but Nadal had not been himself. Opportunities were spurned, errors committed, the first set dropped. Now the Spaniard had levelled proceedings and held a break point to move ahead for the first time.
Auger-Aliassime, whose brilliant attacking play had so compounded Nadal’s initial discomfort, fired a first serve wide to Nadal’s forehand. The response was short, invitingly so, and the 21-year-old thumped a backhand approach shot into the opposite corner. His sharpness at the net had already reaped dividends and, as Nadal threw up a high defensive lob, the Canadian’s attacking instincts seemed certain to prevail again.
Auger-Aliassime clumped an overhead into the space vacated by Nadal, whose latest attempt to ward off a chronic foot injury was receiving its sternest test of the fortnight. Somehow, the 13-time champion arrived in time to scrape back a weak reply. Again, the Canadian ninth seed blasted the ball into the open court; again, Nadal sprinted off in pursuit. Auger-Aliassime had already seen off two break points in the game and now, with the court at his mercy, his recovery from 0-40 looked a formality. But Nadal’s powers of retrieval had him spooked. Trying to bring down the guillotine, he overpressed his smash and the ball sailed long. Cue a quiet clench of the fist from Nadal and smiles of relief in his support box. Finally, he was in front. Another defining passage in his storied career had been written.
Except, it hadn’t.
It has been said that to achieve great things, one must learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Never has Auger-Aliassime looked more so. His service is a formidable weapon, and it took Nadal a set and a half to find his range on the return. Once he did, Auger-Aliassime was rarely at ease again, yet it didn’t matter. Time and again, the world No 9 ceded ground early in his service games only to come roaring back. It was a hugely impressive display, one brimming with flair and variety, and it augurs well for the 21-year-old that, on the surface where he is at his least effective, he became only the third man in 18 years to push Nadal to a fifth set at Roland Garros.
“In the end, the sport is normally very simple,” said Nadal, who was watched from the front row of the president’s box by his uncle and former coach Toni Nadal, now the coach of Auger-Aliassime. “When you play better you have better chances; if you play worse, then you have of course less chances, no? In that case, when I played well, I won the match. When I played not that well, I had a lot of troubles, no? First set I didn’t play well, so I lost. And then, after the first set and a half, I started to play much better, in my opinion, much more aggressive.
“I played a good end of the second set and, I think, a very good third set. Then I made a super mistake at the beginning of the fourth, when the situation already changed and I was in control of the match, and then I suffered. But the most important thing is that I played a good fifth set, and especially the last three, four games I played with the right dimensions, so very happy for that.”
Perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay Auger-Aliassime is that he forced Nadal to redefine the defining moment. The quality, resilience and self-belief he showed to capitalise on a slew of forehand errors from the Spaniard at the start of the fourth set obliged Nadal to win the match all over again. To do so, Nadal went to a place where few can follow.
From 3-3 in the decider, Nadal lost only three more points, his court coverage and ball-striking of a quality that momentarily made you forget he is managing a chronic foot injury and preparing to celebrate his 36th birthday in four days’ time. Instead, to Auger-Aliassime’s despair, there came only reminders of his enduring quality. A running forehand pass set up a break point. A muscular sprint into the forecourt saw him convert it, Nadal tucking an irretrievable ball down the line for a winner. He sealed victory with a final foray to the net, a tactic that served him well down the stretch, as a cat-and-mouse exchange of angles ended with one last forehand winner into the open court.
“He raised his level when he needed to,” reflected Auger-Aliassime, whose . “He was serving well in the fifth set, playing well behind the serve, being very aggressive, and I think he took it even higher, one step further, from 4-3. Honestly, I didn’t play a bad game. I did what I had to do. He was dictating, aggressive when he needed to be, and also defending really well.”
Now comes another meeting with Djokovic, against whom Nadal will need all those qualities and more. The world No 1 passed a potentially tricky test against Diego Schwartzman with flying colours, brushing aside the Argentinian 15th seed 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 to keep his title defence on course.
“Nadal, obviously, [was a] well-anticipated match when the draw came out for a lot of people,” said Djokovic, who has yet to drop a set this year. “I’m glad that I didn’t spend too much time on the court myself up to quarter-finals, knowing that playing him in Roland Garros is always a physical battle, along with everything else. It’s a huge challenge, and probably the biggest one that you can have here in Roland Garros. I’m ready for it.”
Carlos Alcaraz booked a last-eight appointment with Alexander Zverev, battling past Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to reach his second grand slam quarter-final.