Toni Nadal’s apprentice corners the Spaniard, forcing him to come back to reach the quarter-finals and face Djokovic
There was a time when it seemed as if Rafa Nadal and his uncle Toni joined forces to ask the meteorological gods for rain. That a downpour fell to change the sign of a complicated game. A miracle in liquid form that mostly took place in some of his most remembered matches at the US Open. But this Sunday, in Paris, the formula was very different. Nadal needed the opposite, he needed the rays of the sun to quell the momentum of Felix Auger-Aliassime, now trained by Toni, and come back from the Canadian, one of the few to take Nadal to a fifth set, en route to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros (3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3).
This was without a doubt the toughest match played in a tournament for Nadal. Especially since for many minutes, the man’s earliest defeat from Manacor was seen since 2009, when he fell to Swede Robin Soderling.
In cold, tough conditions and with a slow ball speed, Nadal suffered greatly. The temperatures in the Paris capital didn’t help his game in a terrifying first set, with 50% first serve, 1 of 7 breakpoints and especially 15 unforced errors. There was no point at the time wondering if Nadal could beat Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, having already qualified after a comfortable three-set win over Diego Schwartzman, as the question was whether he could even beat the Canadian. could come off.
The first set cast a very clear doubt, which was resolved when the sun illuminated the Philippe Chatrier. Uncle Toni’s powers turned against him and time turned in favor of Nadal, who began to warm up with his right hand, turning off the tap of unnecessary mistakes. In the second set, which served as a springboard, he only made four. There was room for improvement in the winner’s section, a stumbling block for Aliassime, whose elasticity allows him to achieve anything, but Nadal’s level was clearly ‘in crescendo’.
The confidence boost from the Canadian, a tennis player called to do a lot from an early age, disappeared with Nadal’s equalizing goal, who saw a vein in his rival’s serve. Without the score in favor, Aliassime lost the tension in his arm and the ability to hurt the Spaniard with his serve. It emptied and Nadal shifted gear with a serious gesture. Two sets to one, an advantage he has never lost at Roland Garros. Moreover, in only 10 of the 111 matches he played in Paris, he lost the first set and managed to come back in eight of them.
But the sky turned cloudy again. Night loomed in Paris and things no longer got any worse for the Canadian, who rediscovered the comfort of forehand domination and his serve. When the match was under control, Nadal had to go into a fifth set. For the third time in his life he played a fifth set at Roland Garros. Only John Isner in 2011 and Novak Djokovic in 2013 drove him this far. No one has beaten him when the match has gone to the last set. Also, Auger-Aliassim was not the first to write his name in the history books.
After seven exciting matches, in which Nadal saved the furniture and took stock, it was time to bite the bullet. With a 15-30 advantage on Aliassime’s serve, Nadal took a desperate pass straight to the line. A blow that gave him the ‘break’ balls 20 and 21 of the match. The first, water, by a Canadian shot; the second he lifted it off the ground to serve for the win and certify passage to the quarterfinals.
With Djokovic in two days, Nadal’s doubts are greater than ever, especially due to the poor record in breakball, he only converted 6 out of 21. On the positive side, he has not noticed any foot problems in the four matches played. The bad news is that Djokovic has not dropped a set in the tournament so far and is at the peak of his form this season.
It will be game number 59 between Serbian and Spanish, 30-28 in favor of Djokovic. They played nine times at Roland Garros, with seven wins for Nadal and two for Djokovic, who won their last meeting in the semi-finals last year.
Source: La Verdad
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