Novak Djokovic was not happy about the French Open scheduling after his quarter-final match with Rafael Nadal finished at 1.15am local time. The Serbian gave it his all but suffered a 2-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7(4) defeat to his great rival in four hours and 11 minutes. The match took place in the night session, which began at 9pm on May 29 and did not end until the early hours of June 1.
During his post-match press conference, the disappointed world number one criticised the time in which his highly-anticipated last-eight encounter began. "There are difference of opinions about the night sessions. I think they are starting too late, to be honest,” he said.
"But again, TV decides. That's the world we are living in. Broadcasters say it's going to be night match, day match. They give the money. They decide." Nadal also disapproved of the late start time, but is pleased he now has two days off to rest and recover before Friday’s semi-final against Alexander Zverev.
“It is, without a doubt. I can’t complain because we have two days off now, but if you only have one day off, or like Zverev had in Madrid and he had to play the final the next day, it is a big issue," Nadal explained. "I understand the other part of the business, on the other hand television pays a lot of money to have matches that late, the tournament makes money and the players make money, we need to find the right balance to make things work in the best way possible.
“But it is true that to start a match here at 9 in the evening, playing on clay, best of five, can be very long and these kinds of things can happen, that’s it.” Many wondered which version of Nadal was going to show up at the French Open given how his chronic foot injury flared up in Rome just a fortnight ago.
But once again the 21-time Grand Slam champion showed just how phenomenal he is on the hallowed clay of Roland Garros as a performance coupled with ruthless aggression and sheer resiliency, hallmarks of his legendary career, saw him defeat the world number one. The pendulum swung back and forth on numerous occasions during yet another special match between the two icons of the sport. Nadal stormed into an early lead, taking the first set 6-2 and established a 3-0 lead in the second.
Not to be denied, the Serbian stormed back to win six of the next seven games to level the match, but Nadal found an extra gear to force an early break of serve in set three, as he did in the first two sets, and went ahead once again by two sets to one. The momentum swung yet again as Djokovic finally began a set on the front foot, holding serve before breaking the Nadal and forging a 3-0 lead. But while serving for the set at 5-3, Nadal’s mental fortitude came to the fore as he saved two points before breaking serve and backed it up to draw level at 5-5.
The pair both held serve to take the set to a tiebreak, a fitting end to a highly competitive set of tennis. The 21-time major champion did not allow his opponent to gain a foothold, as he ramped up his aggression and had carved out a 6-1 lead in the blink of an eye, before winning it 7-4, which marked the world number five’s first tiebreak win over Djokovic since 2013. A scorching backhand down the line sealed a 29th victory over the Serbian for Nadal, who was thrilled with his performance. "A very tough match," he said. "Novak is one of the best players in history and playing against him is always an amazing challenge. Today was another one.
"The only way to win against him is to play your best from the first point to the last. A magic night for me." Assessing the match, Djokovic shared: "He was a better player, I think, in the important moments. He started very well. I didn't start so great. "I was gaining momentum, managed to win the second set and thought OK, you know, I'm back in the game. But then he had another two, three fantastic games at the beginning of the third. He was just able to take his tennis to another level in those. He showed why he's a great champion. Staying there mentally tough and finishing the match the way he did."
