Novak Djokovic (EPA)
PARIS HILT: Rafael Nadal was jubilant after vanquishing a very game Novak Djokovic (inset) yesterday in five sets to move within one victory of a record eighth French Open crown. (
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PARIS — His dramatic and delightful French Open semifinal was 4 1/2 hours old — and 14 games into the fifth set — when Rafael Nadal raced from the net to the baseline to retrieve Novak Djokovic’s seemingly unreachable lob.
Many players wouldn’t have bothered to give chase, let alone attempt what Nadal actually accomplished: With his back to the court, he somehow sent a lob the other way by flipping the ball between his legs.
Perhaps surprised the 11-stroke point was not already his, Djokovic flubbed an easy overhead smash into the net. Two games later, Nadal flicked another, more traditional, defensive lob, and Djokovic sailed his response 5 feet long, the earlier mistake no doubt on his mind.
Three points later, the blink-and-you-miss-something match was over.
In a contest chock full of lengthy exchanges, moments of mastery and occasional lapses by both men, seven-time French Open champion Nadal returned to the final with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7 victory over the No. 1-ranked Djokovic yesterday.
By the finish, it was not just a test of skill but also of stamina and perseverance, two qualities Nadal possesses in abundance.
“This one is a special one,” Nadal said. “If we talk about everything that makes a match big, today we had all of these ingredients.”
Except, of course, a glistening silver cup for the winner and a runner’s-up tray for the loser. Those will be on offer tomorrow, when Nadal faces David Ferrer in an all-Spanish final with a chance to become the only man with eight titles at any Grand Slam tournament.
“When you have a win and you have the trophy, it means more,” said Nadal, who will be seeking his 12th major championship overall.
The fourth-seeded Ferrer reached his first Grand Slam final by defeating France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2 yesterday. The 31-year-old Ferrer, previously 0-5 in major semifinals, ended Tsonga’s bid to give the host country its first male champion since Yannick Noah in 1983.
Nadal is 58-1 in his French Open career; the loss came to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009.
Nadal later said bad knees were partly to blame for that defeat. Yesterday, he was wearing a thick strip of white tape below his left knee, which sidelined him for about seven months until February. Since returning, Nadal is 42-2 with six titles, reaching the finals of all nine tournaments he has entered.
“For us, it’s really a miracle,” said Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and coach.
Djokovic’s coach, Marian Vajda, was asked whether there is any bigger challenge in tennis than facing Nadal on his preferred surface.
“I don’t think so,” Vajda said. “He’s the King of Clay.”
Serving at 4-3, 40-all, in the fifth set, Djokovic ended a 15-stroke exchange with a volley smash winner, but his momentum carried him into the net, which players are not allowed to touch, so the point was awarded to Nadal, who eventually broke back there.
“An unbelievable match to be part of, but all I can feel now is disappointment. That’s it,” said Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year’s final and still needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam. “He showed the courage in the right moments and went for his shots. … I congratulate him, because that’s why he’s a champion.”
