PARIS (AP) – Rafael Nadal insists he can’t know for sure if any Roland Garros match could be his last in a place he loves, a place he loves.
For now, if he continues to win and continues to do as he did during his monumental quarterfinal victory over rival Novak Djokovic that began in May and ended in June, Nadal will have more chances to play.
With a mix of brilliant shots and his characteristic endurance, Nadal surpassed the top seed, defending champion of the French Open, Djokovic by 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to take a step closer to yours. 14th championship in the clay Grand Slam tournament and what would be an important 22nd overall trophy, adding to the records he already holds.
“One of those magical nights for me,” Nadal said.
For anyone who is lucky enough to be there too, as long as they can stay awake, or even for anyone watching from afar. The match started a little after 9pm on Tuesday and ended more than four hours later, past 1am on Wednesday.
“Television decides,” Djokovic said of the late start. “This is the world we live in.”
The support said it was a quarter-final, yes, but it seemed like a final, from the quality of the game to the quality of the effort, from the expectation that preceded it to the atmosphere around it.
The only ingredient missing was no trophy given to the winner.
Nadal turns 36 on Friday, when he will face third seed Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. When he discussed the subject of the future of Christmas during his interview on the track, he smiled.
“We’ll see you in two days, by the way,” Nadal said. “That’s all I can say.”
It will be difficult for any party the rest of the way to live up to it.
Not a game, a point, a blow or, in fact, a step came with a touch of carelessness. Both men gave it their all. Nothing came easily.
Nadal’s 3-0 lead in the second set did nothing for him; Djokovic ended up grabbing him and would later say, “I thought, ‘Okay, I’m back in the game.'”
But Djokovic’s 3-0 in the fourth was useless, even though it was 5-3, he even came close to forcing a fifth twice. Nadal saved those seven points and broke them, then ran away with the final tiebreaker, taking a 6-1 lead and never losing concentration after his first three game points went wrong.
“Today I lost to a better player,” said Djokovic, who had won 22 sets in a row until the first goal of 49 minutes against Nadal. “I had my chances. I didn’t use them. That’s it.”
This clash was his 59th, more than any other two men who have faced in the Open era. Nadal reduced Djokovic’s lead in the series to 30-29 while improving to 8-2 against his rival at Roland Garros.
Nadal is now 110-3 for his career in place. Two of those defeats were against Djokovic, even in last year’s semifinals. This time, Nadal made sure Djokovic stayed behind in the Slam count with 20. Nadal broke the three-way tie with Roger Federer in that number by capturing the Australian Open in January, when Djokovic did not being able to play because he hadn’t been. vaccinated against COVID-19.
Before Nadal advanced to his 15th semifinal in Paris, Zverev reached his second in a row by beating rising star Carlos Alcaraz, 19, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 ( 7).
“It won’t be easier from here,” Zverev said after ending Alcaraz’s 14-game winning streak.
“I told the network, ‘You’re going to win this tournament many times, not just once,'” said Zverev, a runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open and a gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. to be able to win it before it starts … to beat us all. “
In women’s action on Tuesday, American Coco Gauff, 18, and Italian Martina Trevisan, 28, reached their first Grand Slam semifinals. 18th Series leader Gauff defeated 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-2, while Trevisan, 59th. ranked, eliminated U.S. Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-7 (3). 6-3.
The cap was kept for two players who know each other so well. Trends and tactics. Gestures and moods.
It should come as no surprise, then, that they were so involved in such long, long points (57 at least nine times, with one that was 25), that before some were over, the people of the bleachers let out a snort or a “Aaaah!” or “Awww!”, drawing rebuke whistles of “Shhhhh!” in response.
Chairman Damien Dumusois could have set a record if these records were kept, most often by saying “S’il vous plait”, to beg spectators to sit down and allow the game to continue.
Nadal felt much more support in the form of cries of “Ra-fa!” or “Come on!” or “I love you!” Only once Djokovic began to assert himself in the second set was his nickname “No him!” heard at any frequency.
As time went on and the air became colder — below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) —Christmas and Djokovic embodied the words in capital letters in clay in French and English along the lower level façade. of the arena, attributed to Roland Garros. the World War I fighter pilot who bears the name of the facility: “Victory belongs to the most tenacious.”
At the beginning, and along the stretch, it was Christmas winning the bottom line back and forth, pushing and pulling Djokovic one way or another, up and back, until an opening was presented for a winner. net. Djokovic reacted to his mistakes by rolling his eyes, shaking his head, or removing his palms as if to say, “What’s going on?”
Nadal showed zero signs of being slowed down or slightly bothered by the chronic pain in his left foot that erupts from time to time and kept him off the tour for the last half of 2021 and resurfaced before the French Open. .
Nadal also showed no signs of getting tired of his five-set fight against No. 9 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round on Sunday, which lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes, almost twice as long as Djokovic’s victory. day.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Djokovic said. “It’s not the first time he’s been able, a few days after being injured and barely walking, to get out 100% physically fit.”
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