Shouldn’t we thank Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal for bringing an ounce of immutability to the year 2020 upside down? A global pandemic has brought the planet to a halt – and consequently the professional tennis circuit – but for the ninth time the Serbian and the Spaniard will face off in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. After Nadal’s easy victory against Diego Schwartzman, the world number 1 battled on Friday, October 9, but emerged victorious in his semi-final against Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 4- 6, 6-1).
A meeting that has long seemed promised to a chilling Novak Djokovic of mastery, before the young Hellene makes it fall into the unknown. If Tsitsipas won the first two exchanges, the Serb retorted. And arrogated the first three games of the game, entering the game perfectly.
“He puts a lot of pressure on his return, it’s not easy to play against him”, commented Stefanos Tsitsipas after the meeting. If the young Greek was not unworthy, he seemed for a long time to scramble in vain, facing a Serbian with clockwork precision, alternating blows and tightening the game when he deemed it necessary. “Novak has achieved a form of perfection in his game, it’s pretty amazing, agreed his opponent. He has it all on one court, I try to be inspired by it. “
Djokovic intractable for nearly three sets
Tsitsipas’s theorem is both simple and difficult: as soon as his strike finds accentuated angles, the Greek imposes his law on his opponent. But in flirting with the line, he regularly finds himself at fault. And does not materialize, for nearly three sets, any of his break opportunities, against this outstanding defender.
Until the semi-final, Novak Djokovic had saved 77% of the break points he had conceded. And until the end of the third set, he delivered a perfect match, not conceding the slightest break (on ten occasions). Clinic, especially at the net, he realizes his opportunities, quickly leading two sets to zero. And seems to rush without forcing towards the final.
Just like he planned it @DjokerNole #RolandGarros https://t.co/1vTNWKuE4d
Coming out of his winning quarter-final against Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas had kindly rebuffed a journalist asking him about the future success of a member of the “Next Gen”, this future generation a bit fantasized, who will come – one day? – replace Nadal, Djokovic and Federer: “I’m no longer a Next Gen player, I’m an adult now. ”
On Friday, he proved it on the pitch, boiling the world number 1. The gangly teenager who won the last four of the Australian Open in 2019 has grown up. Far from giving up in the face of the almost inevitable nature of the game, he tried something else. “I regret that I didn’t understand some things before, because he was destroying me completely. I tried new things, and it was a big mistake. When I got back to my way of doing things, I made an incredible comeback. “
On the brink, led two sets to nothing, and after saving a match point, Tsitsipas begins to let go of his blows, putting the Serbian back. His eleventh break point is the right one, and allows him to come back to 5-5 in the third set. As released after feeling the wind of the ball, lining up the winning shots, the world number 6 gets a set point on the opposing service. Djokovic dodges it, then yields on a masterful forehand grazing the line.
Ninth Grand Slam final between Djokovic and Nadal
Saved from the waters, the young Greek with the windy hair continues his harvest in the fourth set against an increasingly disturbed world number 1. Complaining from the public, the “Djoker” no longer smiles. “I remained calm on the surface, but inside, it was totally different”, conceded the Serbian after the meeting. Admitting he had to struggle, when he thought “To have control of the match”. Multiplying the dampers sweeping Tsitsipas to the net, the Serbian tries to regain the ascendancy. But is pushed to the fifth set by an untenable opponent.
Sparing no effort to try to outflank his vis-à-vis, the two players multiply their high-flying shots in a disjointed fifth set rich in cushioning. But where Tsitsipas seems to pay for his efforts to get back into the game, physically digging, we find a sharp Serb. Unperturbed, despite nearly four hours of play, Novak Djokovic walks his opponent from one end of the court to the other.
“Unfortunately, towards the end of the match, an injury I had in Rome returned”, said Tsitsipas, who involved the physiotherapist on his left thigh. Running out of fuel, the Greek can no longer find the balls of the world number 1. And the games go by, one way, until the inevitable: the qualification of the Serbian for his fifth final Porte d’Auteuil.
Nearly 4⃣ hours in … #RolandGarros https://t.co/ekPGK5oOje
Winner of Roland-Garros in 2016, Novak Djokovic could, Sunday, become the third player (after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver), and the first of the Open era, to win at least twice the four Grand Slam tournaments. But to do this, he will have to force the door of ” the House “ of Rafael Nadal, as he nicknamed the Central after his match.
“It’s the biggest challenge we can have in our sport: to face Nadal at Roland-Garros”. At 33, Djokovic did not fail to recall that he had defeated the Mallorcan on the ocher of Roland-Garros in 2015, in the quarter-finals. Since then, the two men have missed Porte d’Auteuil, due to injuries (Nadal in 2016), less good blows (Djokovic in 2017 and 2018), or Dominic Thiem last year.
On Wednesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas envisioned a future where the Grand Slam tournaments would no longer be promised to the three sacred monsters of his discipline. “Obviously, one of us will win Roland-Garros one day. Let’s face it, the Big Three has been around for a very long time, and I don’t think it will be the same music in five or six years. “
In 2020, all the young wolves of the circuit have been weighed, measured, but have not matched the weight of history. For the ninth time, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will continue their mano a mano in the final of a Grand Slam tournament.
