Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal: A third set that pivoted history

They were stuck in the middle of one of those rallies that they seemingly have been stuck in since they first met on this very court in 2006, which is 57 head-to-head matches ago, when Novak Djokovic decided to alter the nature of his crosscourt exchange with Rafael Nadal. For a while in this point now Djokovic was having his backhand bombarded by Nadal’s loopy, spitting forehands.

PREMIUM

Straddling the singles tramline on his backhand side, Djokovic looked like he was ostensibly dismembering as he kept returning the ball to a grunting Nadal with two fists, until he simply had enough and moved further into the doubles court and took the ball inside-out, on his forehand that is, and flattened out his return into a near-impossible winner—whizzing acutely in its angle and skidding past a stunned forehand attempt by Nadal.

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The crowd roared (“Ser-bi-ja! Ser-bi-ja!”), Djokovic stared at his box, widening his unblinking eyelids, Nadal towelled his wet face and dripping arms even as the chair umpire, Eva Asdekari, politely reminded them to move on by announcing: “zero quinze”. This was but one of the early exchanges in a third set that could qualify as the best set of tennis at this French Open, if not the best set of tennis between two men whose career match-ups are littered with some of the greatest sets ever played.

That third set would not only pivot the match firmly in Djokovic’s direction, but it would also prove pivotal to the history of tennis itself.

THE SLAM DOUBLE

By beating Nadal in the semi-final of the French Open, Djokovic stands on the very verge of becoming the first man in the Open Era to win all the Grand Slams twice (Nadal has just one Australian Open, same for Roger Federer in Roland Garros). His only hurdle is a man who has made his first ever Grand Slam final, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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Not just two of each Major, the Serb will put himself on 19 Slams with a win on Sunday – one away from Nadal and Federer. If that happens, there is a distinct possibility of Djokovic winning all four Slams in the same year; again, an Open Era record. Sounds farfetched? Well, surely not as farfetched as beating a man with 13 French Open titles who came into this semi-final with a 105-2 win-loss record on the red dirt of Paris.

Nadal’s only two previous losses at Roland Garros had come against Robin Soderling in 2009 and Djokovic himself in 2015. Those losses were as much due to his blisters (2009) and woeful form (2015). But on Friday, Nadal was in prime form; the same great form that saw him win his last 35 matches on this court, stretching back to 2016; the same form that caused the destruction of Djokovic in the final last year; the same form that witnessed the punishing of Diego Schwartzman with a 6-0 final set in the quarter-final, possibly for having made Nadal drop his first set in France since 2019.

The scoreline says that one of the greatest takedowns in this sport began in the second set, which Djokovic won 6-3. But don’t be fooled, for Djokovic’s cunning plot to defeat Nadal on a court that the Spaniard once referred to as “my living room” in fact began in the first set, which was for a long while eerily similar and one-sided as the bagel Djokovic was dealt with in the opening set of last year’s final. But something strange happened when Nadal was 5-0 up. Djokovic fought back, winning three games in a row, before Nadal snuffed it out. Still, a palpable shift of momentum had taken place. It raised both the level of tennis and Nadal’s left eyebrow for the rest of the contest.

THAT EPIC SET

The match was already two hours old and tied at a set apiece when the third set (which will in the years to come simply be referred to as “that third set”) started. This set alone would last 92 minutes; while it was on it felt a whole lot longer—a never-ending loop of broken serves and clattering racquets and clenched fists and racing hearts, all set to a soundtrack of demonic grunts. The points in this set didn’t have the overall length of the rallies from when these two met in the six-hour final at the Australian Open in 2012. But what it missed in quantity it more than made up for in quality.

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Djokovic had squandered a few opportunities to break Nadal’s serve in the opening passage of this set, but soon induced that final error from Nadal in the fifth game to make it 3-2. Ironically, the break came from a drop shot into the net—the very tactic that had backfired on Djokovic in the 2020 final. Because Nadal never rolls over, he broke right back in the next game (3-3), getting there with a ferocious body-shot towards Djokovic at the net. The Serb was not amused.

Perhaps that anger inspired Djokovic to break back immediately (on love, that too) and perhaps even helped him to finally consolidate the break and make it 5-3. Nadal seemed resigned to his fate when Djokovic served for the set at 5-4, 30-0. But some sets turn into great spectacles simply because one of the players refuses to go away, and this was one such set. As he roared back, Nadal curled in his running forehand winner up-the-line and soon it was 5-5 and then 6-6—the Spaniard now screaming at his box in joy and Djokovic screaming at his for help.

Djokovic’s SOSes have always been answered at this French Open. Call it divine intervention but when he found himself two sets down to Grand Slam debutant Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round, Djokovic tapped into something deeper and won in five sets. Even when he played Matteo Berrettini, who at one stage in the quarters managed to upset Djokovic so much that the Serb pantomimed flinging his racquet at his box—where his wife Jelena too was seated that night.

Under the terrified gazes of their respective loved ones, Djokovic and Nadal dragged their bruised bodies into the tiebreak, after 80 minutes of this brutal and defining set had already passed. It looked ominous when Nadal began with a double fault and even more so when he missed a put-away volley into an empty court at 3-4, after having pushed Djokovic into the cardboard margins of the stadium.

A timely ace put Djokovic on set point. It felt more like a match point, so when Nadal failed to get more than a frame on a ripping backhand, the world No.1 cupped his ear to the crowd and finally believed he was worth the ranking on a court where he was always made to feel second best.

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