The French Open is the first Grand Slam tournament of the year to feature both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. And anyone who enjoys men’s tennis – or, indeed, the sport – should be thrilled that these two titan records in the game will face each other for the 59th time.
Is it a shame that the match is “just” a quarterfinal, rather risky? Probably. Would it discourage anyone to look at it from a distance, or would it dull the environment that covered Court Philippe Chatterjee? Suspicious.
Can it reduce the intensity of each player’s performance? No chance.
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“I’m ready for it,” Djokovic said.
“I hope I can give myself a chance to play at the highest level,” Nadal said, “and then let’s see.”
So the question that Nadal has in mind – and we know because he says so – and Djokovic might be: how many more of these showdowns are going to happen?
Watch Roland-Garros at 9Gem and 9 Now Or every match, ad-free, live and on demand, with the court on 4K, on Stan Sport.
First, Nadal will turn 36 on Friday; Djokovic turned 35 on May 22, the first day of the Roland-Garros.
“I don’t know what will happen to my career in the near future,” Nadal said.
Her body has become a big problem for the last 12 months. He missed the last half of last season, including Wimbledon and the US Open, due to chronic pain in his left leg that flared up again in recent weeks. After his 20-0 start in 2022, he missed three tournaments due to a rib injury.
“I can’t complain too much,” Nadal said, adding that he did not know if he would be able to come this far two and a half weeks ago.
“Honestly, every match I’ve played here, I don’t know if it’s going to be my last match here at Roland Garros. That’s my situation now,” he said after beating 21-year-old Felix Agar-Aliasime to five. Set
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“So I’m trying to enjoy as much as possible.”
Auger-Aliassime says Nadal showed no hindrance or slowness during their fourth-round thriller, which lasted about four and a half hours, almost doubling Djokovic’s straight-set victory over 15th-seeded Diego Schwartzman.
Djokovic has not dropped a single set in four matches.
“He’s Novak,” said Schwartzman, “and if you’re not 100 percent … obviously, that’s the result.”
For Djokovic, his decision not to be vaccinated against COVID-19 prevented him from participating in the Australian Open and when he was assured that Wimbledon would start on June 27, his status for the US Open is uncertain at the moment.
Watch Roland-Garros at 9Gem and 9 Now Or every match, ad-free, live and on demand, with the court on 4K, on Stan Sport.
Whether statistics, aesthetics or any other system is applied, both are the greatest of all time. There can be no debate about it.
Both have won at least two Grand Slam tournaments. Nadal owns a men’s-record 21 Slam titles, which he reached with a tiebreaking victory at the Australian Open in January.
Like Roger Federer, Djokovic is one step behind. Djokovic has all sorts of other advantages, including spending more weeks than anyone else in the ATP rankings and being the only person with at least two trophies in each Masters event. He led both Federer and Nadal head-to-head.
In professional tennis half-centuries-plus, Djokovic and Nadal have played each other more frequently than any other male pair. Djokovic leads 30-28 overall; Nadal led 19-6 on the ground with a 6-2 win over Roland-Garros. Nadal was 109-3 at the French Open, with a record 13 championships, and two of those three defeats came against Djokovic, who reached the semifinals on the way to the title a year ago.
“Playing him at Roland-Garros is always a physical fight,” Djokovic said, “along with everything else.”
This is such a big deal that it was scheduled for the night session, although Nadal made it clear that he would like to play daytime matches on the ground and that it was made available free of charge to everyone in France through a special streaming service.
Watch Roland-Garros at 9Gem and 9 Now Or every match, ad-free, live and on demand, with the court on 4K, on Stan Sport.
The winner will play either third-seeded Alexander Zaverev or sixth-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals. The other men’s quarterfinals are No. 7 Andrei Rubelev vs. 20 Marin Cilic and No. 8 Caspar Rudd vs. Holger Rune.
The 19-year-old Spaniard Alcaraz, considered the next big thing in men’s tennis, knows a significant match when he sees one coming.
“If I can, I’ll see to it,” Alcaraz said of Djokovic vs. Nadal.
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