[5] R. Nadal b. [1] N. Djokovic 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6(4)
It certainly wasn’t the best match played by these two great champions, this 59th edition of one of the greatest rivalries in tennis and in sport. But it probably was one of the most surprising: bookmakers all agreed that Djokovic was supposed to be the overwhelming favourite, given the over four hours played by Nadal in his previous match against Felix Auger Aliassime and considering the uncertain condition of his chronic foot injury that plagued him during the past few weeks.
Nonetheless, Nadal managed to have a great start in three out of four sets and was able to focus during the topic moments of the match and take home this important yet unexpected win.
The first 75 minutes of the match were one-way traffic: Nadal had taken the court with the clear intention to keep the pace of rallies quite high and the duration quite short. He knew that a marathon man would have favoured his opponent, so he was hitting the forehand very hard trying to extract as much as he could from his most lethal shot. Djokovic, on his side, had a very slow start, one that reminded the 2020 final these two had played on this court 19 months ago on a chilly October afternoon: not incisive enough with his serve, frequently betrayed by a shaky forehand, he conceded two breaks during the first set and two more at the beginning of the second, allowing Nadal to run away with a 6-2, 3-0 lead.
But as evening was turning into the night above Paris and the spectators in the expensive seats would start wrapping themselves into the colorful microfiber blanket provided by the tournament, the match would flip on its head in a matter of minutes. At 30-30, two unforced errors would prevent Nadal from extending the lead to 4-0, allowing Djokovic to start his powerful comeback. With the temperature dropping by almost five degrees in a matter of half an hour, Nadal’s shot lost a lot of it punch and Djokovic could resume his usual metronomic baseline tennis. Two long games of 20 and 14 points respectively gave the Serbian the 3-3, and a few minutes later he completed a 6-games-to-one-run to equalize the score at one set all after two hours, 16 minutes.
After the customary toilet break at the end of the set, Nadal managed to sprint ahead 2-0 taking advantage of a dip in performance y Djokovic. The uncertain serve (three breaks out of four games of serve in the third set) and the again-unreliable forehand allowed Nadal to take a commanding 5-1 lead that eventually gave a 2-set-to-1 lead to the Spaniard as the match became 3-hour-old and the clock striking midnight left some tough choices to be made by those who had come to the Bois de Boulogne by public transport.
During the last games of the third set, it was clear that Djokovic let go of that set, knowing that he would need to win fourth and fifth set in order to continue his experience at Roland Garros this year, and unsurprisingly he started the fourth set with a very purposeful attitude. His baseline shots could dictate the rallies more than Nadal’s and the Spaniard was often forced in a defensive position. A drop-shot from Nadal that missed the line by a whisker gave Djokovic an early lead in the fourth set. But unlike Djokovic, Nadal did not give up hopes to recover the set, and as his opponent was serving for the set, he pulled out of a hat a couple of great passing shots, erased two set points and leveled the score to reach 5-5.
The final tie-break that started as the match entered into its fifth hour was a monologue by Nadal that sealed one of the upsets of the week with a screamer of a backhand down the line
