– He turns 36 on Friday. I do not remember seeing him play as well as this. It’s so close to the best I’ve seen him play, exclaimed former major player John McEnroe, who is now an expert on Eurosport. He could almost as easily have talked about Novak Djokovic, but he talked about Rafael Nadal who made it to his 15th semifinal in the French Open after a hectic tennis match in Paris. Nadal won 6–2, 4–6, 6–2, 7–5 in a match that lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes – until 01.15 on Wednesday night. Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP The Spaniard smiled up at the stands and touched his face when the victory was secured. He looked clearly moved after the demonstration of power. While Nadal took plenty of time to recover before the victory interview on the field, Djokovic could hardly have left it faster. The Serb was obviously terribly disappointed. – I’m very emotional. For me, it was an incredible atmosphere. Thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you. Absolutely incredible, says Nadal after the victory. – To feel the love here in Paris, in the most important place in my career, means everything to me. The audience gasped It was perhaps “only” a quarter-final, but it felt like a final in the minutes leading up to the match which had been given a start time of 20.45. As the sun set over the system, the lights flashed frantically over the billboards. There was a roar through the stadium when the speaker introduced Nadal to the 15,000 people at Philippe Chartrier in Paris. Novak Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, estimated that 80 percent of the audience would cheer on Nadal. The truth was probably even closer to 100. With 13 victories in the French Open, it may not be so strange. Nadal had only lost three games here in 18 tournament starts. And he was not in the mood to make it four. Nadal’s opening met expectations. He played with power, precision and intensity. The audience breathed in time – gasping and gasping. FRUSTRATING: Novak Djokovic struggled in his serve games and failed to break when he got the chance. Photo: THOMAS SAMSON / AFP The jubilation started long before the points were awarded, because at times the ball exchanges became so impressive that it was impossible to keep quiet. McEnroe praised Nadal Nadal broke Djokovic twice in the first set – which despite the numbers – was fairly evenly played. Some of the games lasted up to ten minutes. The Spaniard took the best care of his chances. Nadal continued where it left off in the second set and secured two early breaks. But then the Serb raised his game. He broke back and kept the serve on the next two. And then he limped ashore a marathon game, where the board showed 40-40 seven times and he needed five attempts to take the point. Djokovic’s third break decided the set. And then it seemed that Nadal would have enough to deal with. But he had more in stock and landed the third set with just as great numbers as the first: 6-2. Seven-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe was amazed: – How does this guy manage to get over what happened in the second set and just turn it around completely again? Masterful of Nadal Djokovic’s frustration became clearer and clearer out on the field, and the audience responded with a massive pipe concert when he hit the racket in the net. And it was going to get worse. When he finally got control of the cases, Nadal broke back. – He was able to take it to a new level, especially in the beginning of all the sets, maybe except the fourth, Djokovic says at the press conference after the match. The match had to be decided in a tiebreak. There, the Spaniard was crushingly superior and limped to victory 7-4. – He showed why ha is a great champion. He deserved it, Djokovic admits. Olympic winner next Now Alexander Zverev is waiting in the semifinals after beating Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. However, the world coach did not take off after playing a very strong match against the shooting star: – Next I have either the world coach or someone who has won the tournament 13 times, so it will not be exactly easier, says Zverev, who has Olympic gold as his biggest achievement on the CV. ECSTATIC: Alexander Zverev almost drowned out the 15,000 in attendance with the roar of victory after the match against Carlos Alcaraz. Photo: Thibault Camus / AP Casper Ruud will play the quarterfinals against Holger Rune on Wednesday night, at the earliest at 20.45. The winner will face Croatian Marin Cilic or Russian Andrei Rublyov in the semifinals. PS! Rafael Nadal has only lost four matches in the French Open. Three of them have come against Novak Djokovic, while the last was against Robin Söderling in 2009.
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Nadal stunned McEnroe in giant duel – lowered Djokovic with wild tennis – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
