As a self-respecting master of the place, Rafael Nadal holds all the records at Roland Garros (or almost). So it seemed logical that he would add the one from the latest game in tournament history to his kit. At midnight and eleven minutes, Wednesday, October 7, the two-time winner of the Parisian Grand Slam added this little line to his record. For the rest, the Spaniard overcame his first test of this edition, winner of the tough Italian Jannik Sinner in three sets in the quarterfinals (7-6 [7-4], 6-4, 6-1).
Funny birthday for Rafael Nadal. The period – autumn rather than spring -, the time – night session ended at 1:25 a.m. – and the temperature (around 11 ° C) have changed, but the hundredth game played by the Spaniard at Roland Garros saw the same result as ninety-eight others: in the end, the Spaniard wins. And as often, in three dry sleeves. However, the game has not been easy for the veteran Spain, who is playing in Paris only his second tournament since the resumption of the season. Blame it on an opponent full of teeth, decided, from the top of his 19 years, to stare at the boss without shying away.
The first exchange of the match sets the scene. A long marathon at the end of the short, cut short by Sinner, too long. Authoritarian, Nadal imposes his mark on the young Italian. “He had control of the ball, and he started to move, to move, to move…”Sinner said after the meeting. Also, the winner of Alexander Zverev (no World 7) in the previous round has adapted. “I tried to get into the court, to speed up the game, to take away his timing. And it didn’t go bad at all ”, breathed this former skier – among the best in Italy of his generation – having abandoned the descent for a dizzying ascent in the world of the yellow ball. The one who will enter the top 50 on Monday (he was beyond the 500e world place last year) gave Nadal a hard time.
A young Italian uninhibited
Determined to mark his opponents from the start, Nadal won all the first rounds of this edition on the same mark, 6-1. Not in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The first service game of the winner of the Master Next Gen (bringing together the elite of the under-21s), all in looseness and variations, is a shutout. Black look, Nadal side. Without complexes, the kid dares and attacks the twelve times winner.
For his first match against one of the sacred monsters – the triptych Federer, Nadal, Djokovic – the cheeky Jannik does not panic. Having trained with Nadal before, he knew what to expect. “I know what his ball can look like even if it will be different in a match. What I’m going to try to do is not play with the handbrake. “ After having broken the Mallorcan, it is used for the gain of the first round (6-5). “He was on all the balls”, greeted Nadal after the game.
Wary of his opponent, the resounding course for his baptism at the Porte d’Auteuil tournament, the multiple defending champion tries as much as possible to lock him up on his backhand. How to recognize the formidable effectiveness of the forehand of the applicant. Who fails, however, to materialize its efforts. Even less sharp in the fall than when summer comes, even hampered by the soft October soil, on “its” Parisian clay, the task is difficult to get the best out of Nadal.
And if we break the master of the place, beware of the next game. Twice, Jannik Sinner had a bitter experience, seeing the experienced Mallorcan answer him tit for tat. “When you do manage to break, you have to serve the next game even better, and I didn’t do that today. And in front of him, it’s hard ”, agreed the Italian. Without having shone, after a little over two hours of play, Nadal leads two sets to nothing.
Reunion with Schwartzman in the semi-finals
Galvanized by the winning of the second set – he has, in his career, lost only twice after winning the first two sets in best-of-five sets -, and probably the idea of saving His strength, Nadal goes on with beating drum, under the white headlights of the projectors.
Is it because Roland-Garros is hardly accustomed to nocturnes? Still, at one o’clock in the morning, we saw a bull going it alone. Nadal, “toro de Manacor” felt the stable, and tightened the bridle to Sinner. Which will not register his name after those of Robin Söderling (2009) and Novak Djokovic (2015), the only players to have unbolted the statue of Roland’s master. Not this year, at least. At 1:25 am, nearly three hours after starting the match, Rafael Nadal could jump like a kid, qualified, once again for the semi-finals.
And pretend, all smiles, to look at his watch, after paying tribute – in French in the text – to the handles of spectators bundled up in their down jackets who have gone the distance: “I’m going to have two days, sorry a day and a half of rest, to recover and train. ” And some certainties, despite the cold. “The end of the game showed the path I must take to achieve my ends in this tournament. This is what I will try to do. “
Like the “Sinnerman” of the song interpreted by Nina Simone, Sinner could not hide to avoid the wrath of the all-powerful master of Roland-Garros. Even the night did not offer shelter to the young Italian, forced to leave the tournament. If he can harbor some regrets, those of not having been able to seize the small ammunition offered by his opponent, Jannik Sinner will return to Roland-Garros. At not yet 20 years old, the Italian is getting closer to tennis. “I haven’t won anything yet”, he recalls, asking only to return to the court, to practice his scales. His executioner is once again faithful to the rendezvous of the last square at Porte d’Auteuil. There he will find the “big little Argentinian” Diego Schwartzman, who recently eliminated him from the Masters 1000 in Rome. “Rafa, he is the owner of the premises here”, the Argentinian said with a smile on Tuesday, after his victory over Dominic Thiem. An owner decided to keep his property.
