Djokovic did not get the chance to play in this year’s Australian Open. He was deported on the eve of the competition after a standoff with the Australian government over his being unvaccinated against Covid-19. But he arrived in Paris and at Tuesday’s match in more convincing form than Nadal, who is without a doubt the greatest men’s clay-court player in history but was very short on matches on the surface this year.
Nadal injured his ribs at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in March, losing the final to the American Taylor Fritz while playing with a stress fracture. He missed most of the early clay-court season and only returned for the Madrid Open in mid-May, when he was upset by his 19-year-old Spaniard compatriot, Carlos Alcaraz, in the quarterfinals.
Then came the Italian Open, his only other clay-court event before Roland Garros, where Nadal was beaten in three sets by Denis Shapovalov of Canada in a round-of-16 night match in Rome in which he hobbled to the finish, grimacing in pain as his chronic left foot condition resurfaced. He was downbeat after that defeat but did not rule out playing in the French Open and arrived in Paris seeded fifth and with his longtime physician, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro.
As so often, Nadal proved able to play and prevail through the pain, fighting to a five-set victory in the fourth round over the 21-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and then taking on Djokovic for the 59th time on tour and the 10th time at Roland Garros.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Djokovic said after the match. “It’s not the first time that he, you know, is able to a few days after he’s injured and barely walking to come out 100 percent physically fit. You know, he’s done it many times in his career, so I’m not surprised.”
A year ago, in another stirring night match, Djokovic defeated Nadal in four sets on his way to the title. But this year, Nadal turned the tables even if Djokovic, who served for the fourth set, was twice only one point away from forcing a fifth. But on the first set point, Djokovic lost an extended rally by hitting a backhand into the net. On the second, he decided to be more aggressive but his approach shot was more hopeful than good and Nadal ran to his right and smacked a backhand passing shot winner that Djokovic was never close to reaching.
It was soon 5-5 in the fourth set and Nadal took quick command of the ensuing tiebreaker, just as he had taken quick command of the match, jumping out to a 6-1 lead and then holding on and closing out the victory on his fourth match point with another backhand winner.
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