For an hour, it looked nothing
like what people had hoped for.
Novak Djokovic was cruising
against Rafael Nadal, who seemed a shadow of his former self as he hauled his body
through one last challenge.
At 6-1, 4-0 up, Djokovic
appeared well on his way into the third round.
Then? Boom.
The crowd — resigned to the
belief that the match was over — was on its feet, roaring in delight at the
slow-burn classic unfolding before their eyes.
Nadal was back in action, the
38-year-old displaying the enthusiasm and tenacity of the new guard.
For five brilliant games in
the second set, everything changed.
A 60-Match Rivalry Like No
Other
June 2006 was a seismic period
for the nation of Serbia.
It was on June 3 that
Montenegro formally declared its independence, one of the final pieces to break
away from the disintegrated former state of Yugoslavia.
Far less importantly, but just
days later, an unseeded Serbian tennis player met the defending French Open
champion in a quarterfinal on the red clay of Roland-Garros.
It was an inauspicious
appearance for the fledgling Serb, who retired injured after losing the first
two sets 6-4, 6-4.
Who could have possibly
foreseen that some 18 years later, those two players would be back here for the
60th time in their dominant careers, in a contest that was one of the most eagerly
anticipated of the Games?
Djokovic won this one 6-1,
6-4, sealing the result with an ace as he saw off a furious Nadal comeback that
had Court Philippe-Chatrier rocking to its sparkling foundations.
This is a rivalry that has
gone full circle, from the tallest peaks to the lowest canyons, encircling the
globe countless times, played out on courts at all four corners of the world.
Of course, there is no doubt
who holds status as the fan favorite in this part of the tennis world.
The roar that greeted Nadal's
presentation to the court was befitting that of a champion, although it was
almost matched by that of world number two Djokovic, such is the respect he has
earned.
But nowhere is Nadal more
revered than at Roland-Garros, a place where he has won a record 14 singles
titles, losing just four matches out of 116 played. The Spaniard's record
highlights an incomparable level of brilliance in an era where three of the
greatest players of all time have regularly battled out for the majors.
This is the 11th time this
pair has met on the famous clay at the home of the French Open but the first
since Nadal's quarterfinal victory in 2022.
In the unfamiliar territory of
a second-round match — never before have these two met earlier than a
quarterfinal, apart from in tournaments with round-robin phases — this may well
be the last time we see these two warriors crossing racquets in a competitive
contest.
The
End of an Era
Over the past two decades,
there has not been a tougher assignment in sport than meeting Nadal on clay,
especially at his home away from home.
But these are different times,
with Nadal ranked 161st in the world.
"[We are in] different
situations in our careers," Nadal said after his battling three-set
performance against Márton Fucsovics in the first round.
"He's coming from being
in the final of a grand slam, and I'm coming without being very competitive in
the last two years.
"Let's see, it's in a
special place. I'm just going to try to give my best and enjoy it as much as
possible.
"I'm more unpredictable
now, but I always have hope, I always believe, and I want to give my
best."
There was not a spare seat in
the house for this historic moment, a crowd filled more in hope than
expectation that they would witness another classic chapter to close this novel
of a rivalry.
A quote from Roland Garros,
the pioneering French aviator after whom the entire complex is named, adorns
the break between tiers on either side of Court Philippe-Chatrier.
"La victoire appartient
au plus opiniâtre," which translates to "victory belongs to the most
tenacious."
It's a saying that sums up the
way Nadal played for years.
Going 40-0 down in the opening
game, Nadal roared back to deuce, each point bringing with it a cheer of
increasing ferocity, as if the crowd knew their favorite and his ailing body
needed everything they could give him.
At 0-30 down in his first
service game, the same thing happened. The cheers raised their intensity as
Nadal seemingly found that familiar groove on the clay surface he made his own.
The first chant of "Rafa!" cascaded from the precipitous stands as he
pulled things back to 30-30, with some vintage shots from the vintage man
drawing thrilled gasps from the crowd.
But Nadal lost that game too,
broken for the first of two times in that set, and 4-0 down in the blink of an
eye. Nadal, whose 38-year-old body is betraying him with crushing regularity —
the latest issue is a troublesome right thigh, heavily strapped — has played
just 18 matches all year, including this one, winning 11. Nadal could show
glimpses, but they were just that, dappled rays of fading light through the
branches of old age.
Those shadows lengthened and
the brilliant moments evaporated as the sun sank lower on both the match and
what has been a truly wonderful career.
Every unforced error broke the
hearts of the devotees in the crowd, their cheers losing their intensity as the
inevitability of this depressingly one-sided mismatch was realized.
A brief flurry, Nadal breaking
Djokovic on a double fault, perhaps showed muscle memory from the majority of
their previous 59 matches, an expectation that the match should be taut,
frenzied, and tense.
That break gave Nadal some
belief. Shots flew off his strings with a crispness of a decade ago. The
likelihood is that Nadal has been hanging on for this moment, this one last
chance at glory at the first clay-court venue the Olympics have been played on
since Barcelona in 1992.
"Of course, I know that
it's maybe the last time that I will play here. Maybe not. I can't confirm that
because I don't know," Nadal has previously said of his future.
"I really feel very loved
by the French crowd, and I enjoy the fact that I'm able to keep playing [at]
this age and have these unforgettable feelings on court, feeling the support
and the love of the people."
That love was obvious from the
moment he walked out onto the court and will last long after he finally steps
off it.
