Victory belongs to the most tenacious
An almost 32 year old watching an almost 36 year old play against a 35 year old, at 4am, punching the air in sync with one of them and muffling the screams of “Vamonos” to not disturb the spouse. The other way to look at it would be a mere mortal pushing sleeping hours to the brink while two Titans, with 41 Grand Slams between them, battle it out on a clay court.
Whichever way you look at it, the only losers here are my eyes and brain. This was one of those matches where I would’ve been heart broken but wouldn’t have felt down if Rafa lost. Both of them played their heart out and the contest was evenly matched, at least for most parts.
Rafa came into the match an underdog, if ever he could be considered that on a clay court since 2005. A flawless start to the 2022 season, marred by injury and lacklustre run in to Roland Garros upon recovery. Add to that a gruelling 5-setter with the rising youngster, Aliassime, made him question his future and playing at his beloved Paris courts.
Djokovic didn’t have an ideal start to his season either with an unceremonious send off from Australian Open and no trophies till the Italian Open in Rome. But that tournament he won without dropping a set and was yet to drop a set at Roland Garros as well.
Any match between these two is nothing short of legendary. But in recent encounters the Serb had dominated, including last year’s encounter on the same court.
And this one turned out to be no less. It was a battle of wits, strength, perseverance and pure shot making. It was Novak’s ruthless backhand vs Rafa’s devastating forehand.
While Nole was expected to dominate his serve games, the match started very much like last year with Rafa taking the first set with some heavy hitting for 6–2. The only difference being that last year Nole had started his come back in the first set itself and looked to turn the momentum by the 2nd one which he did and eventually went on to win the match.
This time around Rafa was able to carry his form into the 2nd set and quickly moved up to 3–0. The 4th game however was where the momentum shifted and a flurry of unforced errors saw him lose his 2-break advantage. Suddenly, he looked tired against a seemingly fresh opponent. His returns weren’t deep enough and Nole’s deep returns were coming in hard and fast. The old faithful down-the-line forehand was misfiring for him. He switched strategies to limit its usage till he gained back confidence, instead relying on a cross-court forehand. Djokovic pounced on the break and went on to win the next 4 games on the trot. He’s one of those players that you can’t have get a sniff of your level going down. Nadal switched up the gears by the end of the set to make his opponent work for every point. However, the change wasn’t enough to keep out Nole and he took the set 6–4.
The rest of the match was some of the best shots showcase produced by these two legends despite their lengthy history of clashes. Some back to back rallies seemed straight out of a highlight reel. I pity the guy editing this game as there would be so little a true Tennis fan would leave out.
The 3rd set Nadal was a changed player. He seemed to have shrugged off the previous set in a wholesale manner. His returns were deeper and the forehands were starting to hit their mark. The usual format for Djokovic matches against competent rivals would be familiar to most fans — loses first set, fights back the second one and steamrolls the next 1/3 sets. I was cautiously hopeful for Rafa after the 2nd set fight and yes, today turned out to be different. Nadal’s resurgence seemed to have caught him by surprise and he quickly put up a 4–1 lead before Djokovic could initiate a fightback. The almost smooth-sailing 6–2 take of the 3rd set did not prepare me for the 4th set drama.
Djokovic ramped up a 4–1 lead in the 4th despite Rafa’s belligerent efforts. Still this didn’t seem like a completely on top Novak, making his way through double faults, missing some sitters and smashing his racquet on the net on one occasion. Rafa wasn’t back in the 3rd set mode yet, hitting a few wayward shorts and missing the mark on some of his backhands. But what followed was just Tennis beauty at its best and a show for the fans staying up till 5 (almost in a trance state) on a weekday — Rafa surged back in the set to take it to a tie breaker.
Once in the tie-breaker Nadal seemed to be in a Zen state, at his clinical best. Perhaps what sums up the change in Nadal from set 2 to set 4 is the first point of the tie breaker. He pounced on a short return from Djokovic and hit that classic inside-out forehand. He committed twice to the same shot that he was messing up in the 2nd set and found Djokovic’s outstretched racquet miss it to take the 1st point on the Serb’s serve. He couldn’t lose from here and took the match 6–2, 4–6, 6–2, 7–6 (4).
In a match where break points were being won with margins of millimetres, the chair umpire being made to jump out more often than he would’ve liked, a clip of the net was still apologized for with both hands and a good drop shot received a clap from the opponent.
One thing to note, I think Carlos Moya must be a great poker player considering his face bore a near constant expression somewhere between extreme concentration and indifference in a match that was so tumultuous.
Now I’m just hoping against hope that Rafa is able to keep the form going to get to number 14, despite that injury-ridden body. Vamos!
