Anticipated since the draw, the quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Roland-Garros, scheduled for Tuesday evening, is the most played piece in the history of men’s tennis, but its plot is extraordinary.
After the one-sided 2020 final in favor of Nadal (6-0, 6-2, 7-5) and the spectacular 2021 semi-final in the form of revenge for Djokovic (3-6, 6-3, 7- 6 (7/4), 6-2), this third duel in three editions of Roland-Garros looks like a beautiful match between the two giants.
If we trust the statistics, the 35-year-old Serbian, holder of the trophy, has a slight overall advantage (30-28 on all surfaces and all competitions combined), but the Spaniard, who turns 36 on Friday, leads so much on clay (18-8), his beloved surface, than in Grand Slam (10-7) and at Roland-Garros (7-2).
Nevertheless, the situation is delicate for “Rafa”, far from that of his great years on ochre, and who affirms that he will not start favorite on Tuesday evening.
“With 2015 [défaite 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 en quarts], these are perhaps the two times that Djokovic is the most clear favorite when I face him here. All the other times, either I was rather favorite, or it was 50-50, compares Nadal. There, with our respective dynamics of the last few months, he arrives in a better situation, ”he continues.
Of course, Roland-Garros is the Mallorcan champion’s second home. He has triumphed there thirteen times since 2005, lost only three times in 112 games, and only been pushed to a fifth set three times.
“Try with all my might”
Nadal arrived in Paris on a most precarious dynamic. In question: a stress fracture in the ribs which occurred two months before Roland-Garros, which stopped his formidable momentum at the start of the season (21e Grand Slam in Australia and the first twenty matches won), and the awakening of his chronic pain in his left foot in mid-May.
“I haven’t played this kind of match in the last three months, it’s going to be a big challenge,” he admits.
Especially since, 48 hours before finding Djokovic, he scrapped for nearly four and a half hours against Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime (9e).
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to or not, I don’t have enough background to feel if I have the necessary background to play at the level I need to beat someone like Novak, but I I’m going to try with all my might”, promises the Spaniard.
From his marathon match against Auger-Aliassime, Nadal retains one positive element in particular: having “been able to change the course of things at the most critical moment by being much more aggressive and going up to the net”.
Inevitably the question of his physical condition arises. “I don’t think I will be physically affected after this match, muscularly it’s fine, in terms of fatigue too. Afterwards, what can happen below, we don’t know, “says the current noh 5 in the world, referring to his left foot, plagued by necrosis of the scaphoid bone (Muller-Weiss syndrome) for more than fifteen years. “To be honest, every game I play here, I don’t know if it will be my last here at Roland Garros. […] This is my situation now, he confessed after his victory on Sunday. That’s why I try to enjoy it as much as possible. »
Djokovic is “ready”
Conversely, everything has been better for Djokovic for a few weeks. With the return of the circuit to Europe, the noh 1 world has become himself again, after a first quarter started by his incredible expulsion from Australia and almost stopped for lack of a vaccine against COVID-19.
“I’m happy with how I feel, how I hit the ball. I’m ready, ”says “Nole”, on a series of nine games won in a row, with his title in Rome – his first for six months – and his first four rounds in three sets in Paris.
In total, Djokovic spent just over eight hours on the courts at Porte d’Auteuil and only let thirty games slip by. “I’m happy not to have spent too much time on the courts, knowing that playing at Roland-Garros is always a physical struggle, in addition to everything else,” said the Serb. “It’s a huge challenge. Probably the biggest that can exist here. »
Because even if Nadal is no longer unbreakable as in his heyday, his two feet are still firmly rooted in his beloved land.
The winner of the high-flying duel will face third-seeded Alexander Zverev or sixth-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spaniard seen as the next big thing in men’s tennis, recognizes an important game when he sees one coming.
With Associated Press