The epic clash wasn't expected so soon.
Yes, Novak Djokovic, the reigning French Open champion, will lock horns with 13-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal in the quarters on Wednesday, the first rematch of two of the leading men’s players since their epic semi-final last June.
Nadal fought on to bank on his greatest tennis to survive a five-set, four-hour, 21-minute thriller on Sunday evening against Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, but the match that so many crave is on the horizon. “A huge challenge and probably the biggest one that you can have here in Roland Garros,” Djokovic said, anticipating Nadal, after his fourth straight-sets win, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, a pummelling of Diego Schwartzman of Argentina. “I’m ready for it.”
“We have a lot of history together,” Nadal said of Djokovic. They have played each other 58 times, with Djokovic holding a 30-28 edge. It is a classic clash of styles, Nadal blasting away and running wild on the clay, his favourite surface, and Djokovic bringing his exquisite timing, incomparable steel, and the most varied arsenal in the game.
Even more, it is a clash of two men whose personalities and trajectories, especially over the past year, have pushed them into different realms of the sport and public consciousness. One is a beloved citizen of the world, the other a polarising, outspoken iconoclast so set in his beliefs that he was prepared to spend his last prime years on the sidelines rather than receive a vaccination against Covid-19.
There were scattered boos as Djokovic was introduced on the Suzanne Lenglen Court on Sunday. Fans at the main court, Philippe Chatrier, chanted “Rafa, Rafa,” through the evening, urging on the Spanish champion who is immortalized with a nine-foot statue outside the stadium.
Since Djokovic pulled off the nearly impossible by beating Nadal at last year’s French Open, Nadal has been jousting indirectly with his chief rival.
Djokovic mounted an all-out quest last year to pull ahead of Nadal and Roger Federer in Grand Slam tournament titles and nearly did it, evening the Big Three at 20 wins each for six months and coming within one match of surging ahead. Nadal, who largely ended his 2021 season after the French Open because of a chronic foot injury, said finishing his career with the most major championships mattered little to him.
Djokovic has refused to get vaccinated and questioned established science. Nadal got vaccinated long ago, because, he said, he is a tennis player and in no position to question what experts say is best for public health.
Djokovic has tried to spearhead an independent players organisation, the Professional Tennis Players Association. Nadal has refused to join the group and remains a member of the player council of the ATP.
On the court, they have captured each other’s most treasured possessions. After beating Nadal in the semi-finals last year, Djokovic erased a two-set deficit and beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final to win his second French Open title.
In January, after being largely inactive for six months, unsure whether his foot would ever allow him to play again, Nadal won the Australian Open, which Djokovic had won nine times, more than any other Grand Slam tournament.
Djokovic had won three consecutive Australian Opens and travelled to the country expecting to be allowed to defend his titles. But he was detained at the border and deported after government officials deemed his stance against vaccinations a threat to public health.
As the controversy unfolded, Nadal said in some ways he felt sorry for his rival, then kicked a bit of dirt at Djokovic, who was locked in a Melbourne hotel with asylum seekers. “He knew the conditions since a lot of months ago, Nadal said, “so he makes his own decision.”
They even have different approaches to their careers. Djokovic said Sunday that being ranked No. 1 was “was always the highest goal beginning every season, particularly being in the era with Federer, Nadal.” A few hours later, Nadal, currently ranked fifth, said he never paid any attention to his ranking. Just a number. Not important to him.
On Sunday, Djokovic made Schwartzman seem like a sparring partner.After one spirited sprint to the net for a perfectly feathered drop-shot return, he put his finger to his ear, asking the crowd to give him his due.
Nadal had no such concerns, though he struggled from the start of the chilly and breezy evening against Auger-Aliassime. Unlike Djokovic, Nadal has been anything but clinical at Roland Garros this year. But he did set up his showdown with Djokovic. Just as everyone was hoping.
The highly-anticipated match has been scheduled for the controversial night session despite Nadal expressing reservations against it, reports Reuters.
The night session, for which Amazon Prime has exclusive broadcasting rights in France, starts at 9 pm local time and was introduced for the first time at the 2021 edition of the claycourt major.
“I don’t like night sessions on clay. I am very clear with that,” Nadal had told reporters last week.
(With inputs from New York Times News Service)
