Paris – Rafael Nadal Roland insists he can not be sure if any match at Carros will be his last match where he wants it, where he wants it.
For now, if he continues to win, he will continue to perform as he did during his massive quarter-final victory against a longtime rival. Novak Djokovic If it starts in May and ends in June, Nadal will have more opportunities to play.
With a combination of brilliant shot-making and his trademark setback, Nadal defeated first-seeded Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the set. The Clay-Court will be the 14th championship in the Grand Slam tournament and the 22nd major trophy overall.
“It was one of those magical nights for me,” Nadal said.
The match, which began at 9pm on Tuesday, ended more than four hours later at 1am on Wednesday.
“TV decides,” Djokovic said of the late start. “It simply came to our notice then.
The bracket said it was a quarter, yes, but it felt like the final match, from the quality of the game to the quality of the effort, from the anticipation that preceded it to the situation that surrounded it.
Missing only ingredient: No trophy was awarded to the winner.
Nadal turns 36 on Friday, when he faces a third-tier player Alexander Sverrev In the semifinals. When Natalie’s future was talked about during the court interview, she laughed.
“We’ll meet in two days,” Nadal said. “That’s all I can say.
It will be hard to survive this long for any remaining match.
Nari came up with the idea of a game, a point, a stroke or, in fact, a step insufficiency. Both men gave their all. Nothing is readily available.
Nadal took a 3-0 lead in the second set. Djokovic would finish taking it and then say, “Well, I’m back in the game.”
But Djokovic’s 3-0 lead in fourth place gave him no use, he served 5-3, twice stopping even one point from the fifth compulsion. Nadal saved those set points and broke there, then ran with the final tiebreaker, capturing the 6-1 margin, and not losing focus even after his first three match points got worse.
“I lost to a great player today,” Djokovic said, adding that he won 22 sets in a row until his 49th minute opener against Natal. “I had opportunities. I didn’t use them. That’s all.”
This clash is their 59th match, more than any other two men have ever played against each other in the Open era. Nadal reduced Djokovic’s series lead to 30-29, while Roland Karros advanced to 8-2 against his opponent.
At that point Nadal is currently 110-3. Two of those defeats came against Djokovic, including last year’s semifinals. This time, Nadal confirmed that Djokovic was 20 runs behind him in the slam count. Nadal broke off their three-way relationship. Roger Federer With that number capturing the Australian Open in January, Djokovic could not play because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
No wonder they were so engaged and engaged in the longest points – at least 57 of the nine strokes, one went 25 – before some ending, those on the stand would say suffocating or “aaah”. ! ” Or “Awww!”
Chair umpire Damien Dumsois may have set a record, records like this one, most of the time saying “Sil vous blight” to reassure spectators and allow the game to continue.
Nadal asked for overwhelming support in the form of shouts of “Ra-fa! ” Or” Vamos! “Or” De Guerrero! ” Heard on any channel.
As time went on, the air became colder – below 60 degrees Fahrenheit – with Nadal and Djokovic facing the lower level of the arena in clay capital letters in French and English in capital letters, Roland Crosby, the world is said to be. The facility is named for the Fighter I fighter pilot: “Victory belongs to the most determined.”
Early on and down, Nadal pushed Djokovic back and forth, this way or another, until an opening for a clean winner revealed itself. Djokovic responded to his mistakes by rolling his eyes, shaking his head or sticking out his palms, as if to say, “What’s going on?”
Nadal showed zero signs of slowing down or being disturbed by chronic pain in his left leg, which often burns out and left him out of the tour in the last half of 2021, rising again before the French Open.
Nadal did not show a trace of fatigue from the five-set fight against the 9th seed. Felix Agar-aliasimus The fourth round, which lasted 4 hours and 21 minutes on Sunday, was almost twice as long as Djokovic’s victory that day.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Djokovic said. “This is not the first time he’s come out 100% physically fit after being injured and unable to walk for a few days.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“Lifelong social media lover. Falls down a lot. Creator. Devoted food aficionado. Explorer. Typical troublemaker.”