On the 15th stroke of the rally, having opened up the court, Rafael Nadal ripped a forehand down the line. Novak Djokovic raced across the baseline, his exceptional forehand defense blocking the ball back into play deep on Nadal’s backhand side. Nadal slightly overcharged the ball, hitting a crosscourt backhand without as much sting as his previous shot. Djokovic rolled a forehand crosscourt at a wicked angle, pushing Nadal out to his backhand corner and approaching the baseline as the balance of offense in the point shifted. Djokovic then clubbed a crosscourt backhand, pulling Nadal all the way back over to where he hit the forehand down the line from a few shots earlier. Nadal scooped a defensive forehand slice into Djokovic’s backhand corner, and the Serb ran around it, firing a bolt of an inside-out forehand behind Nadal for a winner.
Djokovic thrust his arms skyward, whirling them in an effort to excite the roaring crowd. He had just saved a break point to get back to deuce at 3-2 in the third set of the Roland-Garros semifinals. Djokovic has been a part of many legendary matches and moments in recent tennis history, and none have been more poignant than his best matches with Nadal. The level of the two players when at their best seems to be inextricably intertwined; when one plays a point such as the amazing rally Djokovic won to save break point, it is as if the other begins to play equally well out of sheer necessity. And Nadal did — he won the next two points of the match to break back.
It was in this manner that much of the third set was played — a 91-minute affair that was surreally stuffed with drama and shotmaking. Djokovic, having served at 5-4 and 30-love, faltered by netting a short forehand, then lost his advantage in large part due to two down-the-line winners from Nadal. The Spaniard then navigated a lengthy service game at 5-all, evading break point with a forehand winner, and Djokovic did the same at 5-6, saving a set point with a gutsy, perfectly executed drop shot.
In the tiebreak, with Djokovic leading 4-3 and Nadal serving, a frantic point took place that ended with Nadal shockingly pushing a regulation forehand volley past the baseline. Such mistakes are severely at odds with the thought of Nadal playing a big match at Roland-Garros, and Djokovic made his great rival pay. Despite a drop shot winner from Nadal at 3-5, Djokovic smashed an ace down the middle and claimed his first set point by running down a Nadal drop shot and punching the riposte deep into the corner.
It is a testament to Djokovic’s ability to rise for the big moments that he won this set. He had lost two tiebreaks to Lorenzo Musetti and one to Matteo Berrettini earlier in the tournament, yet came out on top in a breaker with a far, far better clay court player (indeed, the best there has ever been).
Nadal was not at his best in this match. But he was at a high enough level in the third set to take the frame to a place where only his matches with Djokovic can go, the same place that the fifth set of the 2012 Australian Open final and the third of the 2018 Wimbledon semifinal flew to, a place that very few tennis players can even dream of reaching. And despite the war of attrition being on Nadal’s turf this time, Djokovic still had that razor-thin edge to take the set.
Sets like this are not played so reliably in any other active rivalry. Nadal and Djokovic, along with possessing technical tennis that surpasses the rest of the tour, are extremely fit and have a willingness to play exhausting rallies, along with virtually unprecedented wills to win. When both are playing at a high level, multi-deuce games, 20-stroke rallies, and superb winners under pressure often ensue. This rivalry at its best is as close to magic as tennis can come.
The first, second, and fourth sets weren’t up to the standard of the third set by way of consistent quality. They couldn’t possibly have been; maintaining such a standard of tennis must be like leaving one’s hand on a surface of steadily increasing heat. Because of the match’s dips — Nadal had a lapse early in the second set, while much of the first and fourth sets were one-sided (the first in favor of Nadal, the fourth in favor of Djokovic) — this match wasn’t as spectacular as any of the three five-setters these two have contested. But the third set is up there with any of the sets they have played in those matches.
The third set was so exhaustingly intense that the impression was the eventual winner of the match would simply have to win the set — the match clock reached three and a half hours before the tiebreak had even concluded. This impression turned out to be correct. Nadal displayed one last gesture of defiance to go up 2-0 in the fourth, but with the Spaniard struggling physically and the finish line so far away — for Nadal to win, the match would surely have had to go past five hours — the result started to seem inevitable. Djokovic speeded proceedings along by serving, returning, attacking, and defending at an astonishing level. Every bit of the most well-balanced player in tennis’s game came together in the fourth set, and Djokovic won six games in a row to finish the match.
Again, Nadal did not reach the peak of his clay-court prowess, as he has done many times in previous Roland-Garros semifinals. He did not hit his backhand as crisply as he did in last year’s final, and his serve stuttered at times. But this should take nothing away from what Djokovic achieved. As many have said, Nadal exceeded his level in both of his previous losses at Roland-Garros, yet Djokovic was able to reliably pin him in his backhand corner anyway. It is not a revelation that pinning Nadal in his backhand corner is a good tactic. But the way Djokovic executed it — with consistent, ruthless angled forehands into the service box, sweeping Nadal out wide of the doubles alley — was revelatory.
Djokovic beat Nadal at Roland-Garros in 2015, but the fact that he did so this time against a much stronger version of the King of Clay is an astonishing achievement. He is the first man to beat Nadal twice at Roland-Garros. He is the first man to beat Nadal at Roland-Garros from a set down. He has just notched his 30th win over Nadal, and is the first and only man to even beat the Spaniard twenty times. Djokovic has attained some uncharted peaks with this victory. And he may soon become the first man in the Open Era to win each major title twice — the tournament isn’t over, after all.
But even if Djokovic falls to Stefanos Tsitsipas tomorrow, in beating Nadal he has added significantly to his mountainous legacy. Djokovic has made his desire to chase down any and all of his rivals’ records well known, and based on what he continues to achieve this late in his career, it is growing more and more difficult to bet against him.
Sadly, I did not want to watch this match nor did any of my students. We were so appalled and angry at the behaviour of Djokovic in the previous match against Berretini that we presumed Djokovic would use the same furious tactics and poor sportsmanship as usual to try to win this time. In so many matches, WHEN HE PATENTLY DOES NOT NEED TO USE SUCH GAMESMANSHIP, he does anyway. Swearing and threatening (even touching physically) the umpire; long ‘toilet breaks’; extensive racquet smashing; screaming at the crowds or even empty stands; with no penalties. In many cases such players as Kyrgios would have been disqualified or fined over $50,000 for the same number of offences and scorched by the media afterwards, win or lose. Djokovic is a charismatic and extraordinary player. This was probably a great battle. But millions of people missed it for the same reason. 1 million watched it in UK. 5.6 million watched the Kyrgios/Nadal R3 in Melbourne 2020 which was a brilliant battle, and also fiery.
Hi, Sue, and thanks for the comment. First of all, I completely understand being put off by Djokovic’s behavior in the quarterfinal. I myself was disturbed at his screaming and kicking the courtside advertisement. I’m surprised and disappointed that he hasn’t been penalized for it. With that said, I don’t think Djokovic uses these reactions in a gamesmanship manner; I think they are reactions to his own level of play, and that he doesn’t intend to interfere with his opponent with them (whether they actually do interfere may be a different matter). For what it’s worth, Djokovic was far less temperamental in his match against Nadal, which was a great battle as you said.
As for Kyrgios, I unfortunately wouldn’t be surprised if he has indeed been fined for less severe offenses than Djokovic’s against Berrettini. I am all in favor of rules being applied evenly across all players — in fact, I think even application is much of what gives rules meaning. For better or for worse, Kyrgios is often criticized for his on-court behavior, and I do think he has experienced more of that than Djokovic. But I also think that Kyrgios is more consistently misbehaving on court, and while this has nothing to do with behavior, Djokovic has maximized his talent much more effectively than Kyrgios, which I think may give him some favor from the tennis media.
To sum up, I agree that Djokovic misbehaves on court often, though I don’t agree that it’s gamesmanship, I think his episodes tend to be more tantrum-esque. And while on-court misbehavior is very worthy of criticism — and should be criticized evenly — for me, it’s almost always worth it to watch a player anyway, and I think their tennis can be appreciated independent of how they may act on court. Kyrgios may be as good an example of that as anyone.
I think Djokovic’s career is an example for all these nextgens to follow. When he came on tour, Federer and Nadal were dominating everybody and people were just bending backwards for them. Someone like Roddick was so much a mental midget that he had to apologize to Federer after losing to him in Wimbledon 2009. Djokovic said NO. Je was ready to go toe to toe with these two giants. He was right in the face of Federer and Nadal from the start. Even in his loses, he didn’t complement them too much but he insisted he knew what he had to do to beat. I think that’s what put off Federer( I remember that comment he made against Djokovic after losing that US Open Semi with 2 match points on serve, … that was so ungraceful and sums up Federer- Djokovic relationship) especially because he was used to everyone just swatting aside and letting him win. Only Nadal was putting up a fight against Federer . At the same time on clay Rafa was dominating everybody. So Nole said NO, he had to find a way to beat this guys and he found a way and resisted through many matches. Early on in his career , he was weak mentally and physically against Federer and Nadal but he fought back to dominate the H2H. So my advice to the nextgen i.e Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev , Rublev and all the rest. Don’t let Djokovic have his way, get into his face , challenge him, stare him down , be bullish, that’s how you succeed against GOATS. Don’t beg for best of 3. Do it the hard way. The nextgen should be their careers on Djokovic’s career. Talent and esthetic wise he may be lesser than Federer and Nadal but he has so much more desire and fight. He never stays down. That’s my advice to the nextgen. P.S I’m a diehard Nolefam. I’m praying he gets the double career grand slam but I also want to see fire from Tsitsipas not what I saw from Medvedev in AO
Hi, and sorry I’m late to this comment. First of all, congratulations! It looks like you got your wish; Djokovic secured that coveted second Roland-Garros title but Tsitsipas also made the match way closer than the ATP Australian Open final was. As for your thoughts on Djokovic, I think much of the sentiment is correct — to beat top players, you have to truly believe you can, and be willing to take the pain of a bunch of close losses as you’re seeking out that incredibly high level. That said, Djokovic also had the unique assets of absolutely top-tier technical ability — his backhand, return of serve, defense, and stamina were either the best or tied-best on tour starting in 2011. So I don’t think beating Djokovic is as simple as having a confident, imposing-your-game attitude; immense talent and will is required as well. But you are right; allowing Djokovic to play his game or to have the mental edge is a quick way to lose! Congratulations again.