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Djokovic, now with 20 career Grand Slam titles, suggested that the three-way tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could be broken at the U.S. Open.WIMBLEDON, England — The Big Three now have 20 apiece.It is a development that would have seemed unlikely to Novak Djokovic as he made his way onto the tour in the aughts with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal racking up Grand Slam singles titles. More
The fiery star’s march toward history could force his detractors into an uncomfortable position: giving him his due.At first glance, this year’s Wimbledon, returning after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the world’s most famed tennis tournament in 2020, looks to be a diminished affair.No Rafael Nadal. After a bruising defeat to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open, Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a need to heal.No Naomi Osaka. She announced last week that she would continue her hiatus to care for her mental health.Roger Federer will stride again on Centre Court, but he is nearly 40 and still shaking the rust from an injured knee. As time passes, so do the chances that Serena Williams will make another winning run.But Djokovic will be there, fresh from victory at Roland Garros and taking dead aim at the record books. Winning Wimbledon, which begins next Monday, would give him his 20th major title, tying him at long last with Federer and Nadal. It would also keep alive his quest to win four majors in a single year, the Grand Slam, something not achieved on the men’s side in 52 years.He sits now on the precipice of history, which creates a bind for his many stubborn detractors: Ignore and deride his stirring march, or finally give the fiery and efficient Serb his just due.Here’s why the haters, and those simply unmoved by his ascent, should give Djokovic reconsideration.His minimalist approach redefines tennis mastery.In a sport that breathes aesthetics, that lives on the awe-inspiring flow of points and balletic movement of its most outstanding practitioners, Djokovic’s pared-down approach is as divisive as Rothko’s color blocks.More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesFederer has Rembrandt’s flair: all those baroque swings and gracefully artistic approaches. Nadal’s physical, looping groundstrokes recall a heavyweight boxer’s pounding left hooks.But Djokovic’s game has its beauty. No top player has ever been as flexible, as able, on every surface to twist and bend and turn an outright mad-dash defensive sprint into a sudden attack. More than perhaps anyone in tennis history, Djokovic has refined the foundational core of the game — preparation, balance, weight shifts, footwork.He is a minimalist, spare and unencumbered by the need for showy flair. Is there an eye-catching aesthetic to that? You bet.He’s not a robot. He’s Houdini.There are too many slashes at Djokovic on the internet to count. They say he’s a machine. A robot. Nothing more than the world’s most expansive squash wall.Hogwash.Yes, he wins … and wins, and wins. Over the last decade, nobody has done more of that in tennis. But there is nothing predictable about how Djokovic goes about it. There are all-out, percussive beat downs — blurs of brilliance that mix power and defense and deftness — as in his straight-sets demolition of Nadal in the final of the 2019 Australian Open.There are also vivid displays of guts, grit and staying power. His recent Roland Garros title was all about that. But remember, too, the six-hour, five-set marathon against Nadal to win the Australian Open in 2012. And, of course, the comeback from two match points down to nip Federer in the epic Wimbledon final of 2019.Don’t forget 2010 and 2011, when Djokovic twice rose from the ashes to knock off Federer in the semifinals at the U.S. Open, beating back two match points in both cases. In 2011, Djokovic not only came back from two sets down, he saved the first match point he faced with a from-the-heels forehand return that rocketed past his rival and stung the line for a clean winner.Federer promptly wilted, losing every remaining game, drooping off as if disgusted by the audaciousness of his opponent.If you think a profound penchant for Houdini-like escapes is boring, well, maybe you’re beyond convincing.Djokovic’s flaws redeem him.Yes, he can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, his coaches, umpires and peers. At his temperamental nadir, the 2020 U.S. Open, he struck a ball in anger that hit a lineswoman, leading to his default from the tournament.At his most heedless, he tried to hold tournaments last year in Serbia and Croatia during one of the worst periods of the pandemic. The exhibitions were canceled after he and other top players came down with the coronavirus.Djokovic has proved himself all too human in the best, worst and most searching ways. He does not hide from it. Despite the myriad clips of him raging on the court or appearing tone deaf off it — as in April when he said he did not think coronavirus vaccinations should be mandatory on the ATP Tour — his journey has always been public facing.His flaws, and the openness with which he reveals his interior life, make him more interesting than his near-perfect, more restrained peers.Yes, Djokovic can erupt, shattering rackets, barking like a petulant child at himself, umpires and his coaches, as he did during the 2018 U.S. Open. Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressWithout him, tennis would be a monotonous duopoly.For years, men’s tennis seemed defined by a single rivalry: Federer versus Nadal. Two great champions, two contrasting styles.Their lasting connection came to define this era of the sport. Then Djokovic barged and bullied his way in. He is the third wheel, different from Federer and Nadal in almost every way, including the fact that he does not hail from well-to-do Switzerland or Spain, but from an Eastern European country many fans cannot find on a map.For his haters, all of this is a bitter pill to swallow, one they must choke down with frequency.Djokovic now holds the upper hand in head-to-head wins over both rivals. Since 2011, he has captured 18 major titles, seven more than Nadal and 14 more than Federer in that span.After winning this year’s Australian Open, a newspaper headline summed up tennis’s uncomfortable truth: Djokovic might be the greatest of them all.If a rested Federer can stir the old grass-court magic, maybe we get the title bout everyone wants: a rematch of the heart-pounding 2019 All England Club final.Novak Djokovic will find himself in a familiar spot, facing a boisterous crowd intent as much on Federer winning as on seeing the Serb crumpled in defeat.Should recent history hold, Djokovic will raise the champion’s trophy again, another rebuke to the holdouts who refuse to embrace one of the most exciting champions in all of sport.Wimbledon diminished? Not quite. More
The Spanish star said a short turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon did not allow enough time for his body to recover.Rafael Nadal, a 20-time Grand Slam tournament winner, will not go for No. 21 at Wimbledon this year, he announced on Thursday. He also pulled out of the Olympics, and in doing so became the latest top athlete to suggest that compressed sports schedules after the pandemic were asking too much of their biggest stars.“Hi all, I have decided not to participate at this year’s Championships at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” he wrote in a series of posts on Twitter. “It’s never an easy decision to take but after listening to my body and discuss it with my team I understand that it is the right decision.”“The goal is to prolong my career and continue to do what makes me happy, that is to compete at the highest level and keep fighting for those professional and personal goals at the maximum level of competition.”The fact that there has only been 2 weeks between RG and Wimbledon, didn’t make it easier on my body to recuperate after the always demanding clay court season. They have been two months of great effort and the decision I take is focused looking at the mid and long term.— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 17, 2021
His withdrawal came a day after the basketball star LeBron James blamed the N.B.A.’s compressed schedule for a string of injuries to some of its biggest names, and as coaches and medical experts in Europe were warning about the physical demands on players competing in the monthlong European Championship.Nadal has struggled with injuries during his career, and Wimbledon is played on grass, a surface that is not his favorite. (He has won there only twice, and now will have missed the event three times since 2009.) The Olympics in Tokyo will be played on hardcourts.Nadal most recently skipped last year’s U.S. Open in New York, citing concerns about the coronavirus.Nadal cited the short turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon as the reason for his withdrawal, saying it would not give him enough time to recuperate.Nadal, 35, is coming off a memorable French Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic last week. In a bid to win the tournament for the 14th time, Nadal won the first set before eventually losing in four. Djokovic went on to win the tournament.Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer, 39, are locked in a battle to amass the most career Grand Slam singles titles. Nadal and Federer have 20 and Djokovic has 19. No other player has more than 14.Nadal has played in three previous Olympics, winning the singles gold medal in Beijing in 2008. In 2016, he carried the flag of Spain at the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. More
Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in four fierce sets and will try to win his 19th Grand Slam title against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday. PARIS — This golden age of men’s tennis got a little shinier on Friday night. It is harder to deepen the impression at this advanced stage: after all the comebacks, marathon duels and winners under pressure over nearly 20 years of close character study. But Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, in their 58th meeting, still found something inside themselves that spoke to their public, which was allowed the privilege of staying in their seats past the 11 p.m. curfew by the French authorities.It was the right move on many levels. It might have prevented a riot, but above all it was welcome because clearing the main Philippe Chatrier Court would have stopped the flow of a great match that was transcendent in part because of the force of its tidal shifts.The third set was the best example, and one of the most compelling sets to be played at Roland Garros: 91 minutes of grit and pure talent reflected in both grinding rallies and bold swipes of the racket from all sorts of compromised positions. No two tennis players have been better at turning defense into offense, and no two men have played each other more often in singles in the Open era.It was 5-0 Nadal after five games, but Djokovic worked his way back with deep focus, channeling his intensity. There were no screams on Friday night like the one he produced after beating Matteo Berrettini on this same court on Wednesday in another late night match.As against Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final, Djokovic seemed to grasp that he did not have mental energy to squander. He prevailed on Friday because he was the steadier flame down the stretch and the more devastating returner.Nadal won no fewer than 73 percent of his first-serve points against his first five opponents in Paris this year. He won 59 percent against Djokovic. Nadal faced 22 break points combined in his first five matches. He faced 22 break points in one night against Djokovic, who can absorb pace and read service directions like no other.After his brilliant 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory, Djokovic has a chance to win his 19th Grand Slam singles title on Sunday.Nadal and Roger Federer are tied for the career men’s lead at 20 and might remain forever tied. But Djokovic is closing and, as he proved again on Friday night, he remains capable of beating the men on their surfaces of choice.He also holds the career edge over both: 27-23 over Federer and 30-28 over Nadal who could have reeled him back in with a victory.Nadal reacted after his loss on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesDjokovic is now the only man to have beaten Nadal twice in Roland Garros, with the first victory coming in the 2015 quarterfinals when Nadal was in a rare funk.But Djokovic’s achievement this year is more impressive when you consider that Nadal had beaten him five times in a row on clay, including last year’s straight-set romp in the French Open final and last month’s Italian Open final.Though the mood leaned toward superlatives on Friday night, they have played consistently high quality matches against each other (the 2018 Wimbledon semifinal) and longer matches (the 2012 Australian Open final).Nadal had moments of greatness in this semifinal, but was not routinely great, missing backhands by the bunch and losing his way in the crucial third-set tiebreaker with a double fault and a rare missed forehand volley into an open court.“These kind of mistakes can happen, but if you want to win, you can’t make these mistakes,” Nadal said with typical clarity and humility.Certainly not against a champion of Djokovic’s caliber. The crowd, limited to 5,000, sensed the vulnerability and urged Nadal on. It was a sign of how his relationship has deepened with the Roland Garros public. When he lost to Robin Soderling in 2009, he was wounded by the crowd’s hostility. But he has earned their respect and some of their allegiance with his point-by-point commitment. Djokovic had his share of support as well, but to get to 19, he still has one more hurdle, and though he will be a favorite in the final, the 5th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas should not be underestimated.Tsitsipas, a hirsute Greek with a one-handed backhand and an all-court game, has beaten Djokovic twice already on Djokovic’s favorite surface: outdoor hardcourts. Tsitsipas is prepared for this late stage in a major, and his purposeful walk between points is a hint at his inner drive and aggressive instincts. He can win points in all manner of ways, but his best chance against Djokovic may reside in pushing forward.They played in the semifinals of last year’s outlier of a French Open, staged in October after the French Tennis Federation shifted the dates because of the pandemic. Djokovic won the first two sets, but Tsitsipas rallied to force a fifth set and then ran out of steam more than belief, losing 6-1.Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrated his semifinal victory on Friday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesThat is the challenge against Djokovic. He has the endurance and resilience under pressure to take your best shots, find solutions and impose his will in long Grand Slam matches. While it is tempting to think that Djokovic might be diminished by Friday’s 4 hour 11 minute effort, he already has proved that he can bounce back.“It’s not the first time I play an epic semifinal in a Grand Slam and then I have to come back in less than 48 hours and play the final,” he said.He has until late Sunday afternoon, and it bears remembering that Tsitsipas played a taxing five set semifinal on Friday as he held off Alexander Zverev.“It’s time for me to show that I’m capable,” Tsitsipas said of Djokovic.The Big Three have formed an unprecedented roadblock to the younger set, disrupting the normal cycle of men’s tennis. Federer is now an outsider at 39 but still a contender on quick courts like Wimbledon and is already back on the grass in Halle, Germany. Nadal just turned 35, and Djokovic recently turned 34.The majors, not the No. 1 ranking, are his clear focus and after beating Nadal in Paris, thoughts of a Grand Slam are hardly out of the question. Djokovic once held all four major titles, but neither he nor Federer nor Nadal has completed a Grand Slam by winning all four major singles titles in the same calendar year. No man has achieved it since Rod Laver in 1969.No matter how much it felt like a final, it was only the last step to the final, and now Djokovic will try to win his second French Open after beating the man who has won an improbable 13. More
Rafael Nadal, the 13-time champion at Roland Garros, is set for yet another showdown with Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 and his longtime rival. But the title won’t be on the line.PARIS — Roland Garros came alive Wednesday in so many ways.As the French government eased coronavirus-related restrictions, allowing some 5,000 fans to fill Philippe Chatrier Court with rousing chants and sharp Panama hats, it seemed fitting that this would be the day that set up a match that has been anticipated for nearly two weeks.Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will meet in a French Open semifinal on Friday. Both won gutty matches on Wednesday that were filled with tension, noise and surges of momentum in every direction.Their semifinal match will be the latest showdown in an epic rivalry and the second time in less than a month that they will face each other on red clay, Nadal’s favorite surface. Djokovic, however, gave him all he could manage in their recent three-set clay-court match in the final of Italian Open, which Nadal won for the 10th time.“It is going to be a special match with a lot of crowd, just like it was today,” said Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, who battled valiantly against Nadal on Wednesday only to fall in four sets. “Everyone wants to see that.”They also wanted to see the end of Djokovic’s quarterfinal match with Matteo Berrettini of Italy. But an 11 p.m. curfew intervened. On a changeover at 10:54 local time, with Djokovic leading by a set and up by 3-2 in the fourth, the players headed for the locker room as security workers cleared the crowd, which was about five times larger than on any previous day and had spent the better part of an hour helping to lift Berrettini from a two-set hole.Virtually the same series of events had unfolded during a Djokovic match at the Australian Open in February. Just as then, there was howling and plenty of dawdling to the exits on Wednesday. But after about 15 minutes, the players returned to an empty stadium to complete the business of the night.Djokovic then finished off the ninth-seeded Berrettini, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(5) 7-5, like a man desperate to save every ounce of energy for his next match.“Very difficult conditions,” a spent Djokovic said when it was over.Now comes the hardest part. Djokovic holds the edge against Nadal, 29-28, though Nadal is far superior on clay, with a 19-7 record that currently looks even more imposing. It’s heating up in Paris, baking the clay and making the ball fly just the way Nadal likes.“We know each other well,” Nadal said after beating the 10th-seeded Schwartzman, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. “Everybody knows that in these kind of matches anything can happen.”Djokovic holds a slight edge in match victories, 29-28, over his semifinal opponent, Nadal.Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDjokovic said playing Nadal at the French Open was unlike anything else in the sport.“It’s the biggest challenge you can have playing against Nadal on this court,” he said. “Each time we face each other, there is that extra tension and expectation. The vibes are different walking on the court with him.”And yet, because of how players are seeded at Grand Slam tournaments, strictly by the current ranking, the matchup comes in the semifinal, one round before pretty much anyone with knowledge of the sport believed that Nadal, the reigning champion, the No. 3 seed and a 13-time winner of this event, should play Djokovic, the world No. 1.But Nadal skipped the 2020 United States Open because of concerns about the pandemic, lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and played a limited schedule after that tournament, allowing Daniil Medvedev to grab the second spot in the world rankings.“That’s a big difference,” Nadal said Wednesday of meeting Djokovic in a semifinal instead of the final. “The winner of that match needs to keep going, and there remains a lot of work to do to try to achieve the final goal here.”Nadal had to put in plenty of work Wednesday to secure his semifinal spot. For a little while, with an intense, late afternoon sun making the conditions deceptively taxing, Schwartzman had Nadal on the ropes.A beguiling player who has gotten the most out of a body that is just barely over five-and-a-half feet tall, Schwartzman is a defender of the first order. What he lacks in leverage and power, he makes up for by having more tricks and spins in his strings than nearly any other player on the tour. His topspin lob, which somehow always seems to land within inches of the baseline, is as good as it gets.He has done one of the hardest things in the sport. He beat Nadal on red clay at the Italian Open last year. He is an extremely popular player in the locker room, a figure of fascination among peers who are generally at least a half-foot taller than he is and who know firsthand how difficult he can be to play, especially on clay. Schwartzman is fearless, and he came to fight Wednesday.The crowd watching Nadal and Diego Schwartzman during their quarterfinal match on Wednesday.Thibault Camus/Associated PressDown a set, he battled to stay in the match, and had a Roland Garros crowd — which treats Nadal as a beloved adopted son — chanting his name. He didn’t disappoint, unleashing his powerful forehand, breaking Nadal three times in the first two sets and shaking his confidence. By the end of the second set, Nadal was sending weak backhands to the middle of the court for Schwartzman to tee off on and repeatedly failing to put away overheads that he usually bounces off the court.Ultimately, though, no part of Schwartzman’s game is better than Nadal’s, with the possible exception of that topspin lob.Down by 3-4 in the third set, Nadal suddenly seemed to remember where he was and what he has accomplished here. He reeled off wins in the next nine games, finishing the match in a manageable 2 hours 45 minutes. In the final set, he won 25 of 30 points.“At the end, he’s Rafa and he’s always finding the way,” Schwartzman said.After Nadal was done, it was Djokovic’s turn to hold up his end of the deal.At first, Djokovic was far more clinical than he had been in his fourth-round match against another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, who took the first two sets off Djokovic. With arguably the best return the game has ever seen, Djokovic broke Berrettini’s usually troublesome serve early in the first two sets and gave Berrettini few chances to break his.Djokovic has lost after being up two sets to none just once in his career. But with no room for error, Berrettini found the groove on his serve and had Djokovic lunging just to get the rim of his racket on the ball. Under pressure, Djokovic fumbled away a chance to serve out the third-set tiebreaker. Then, with the stadium empty and his anger boiling over, Djokovic outfought Berrettini to barely prevail in the fourth, screaming like a cave man when Berrettini’s final shot hit the middle of the net.Nadal was down by 3-4 in the third set, then found his form and reeled off wins in the next nine games.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDjokovic has seen versions of this movie before. In October, he entered the French Open final against Nadal with as good a chance as ever against a player who had never lost the ultimate match at Roland Garros. He appeared in form, and the shift of the tournament to the fall because of the pandemic meant cool playing conditions that deadened the balls, preventing them from jumping into Nadal’s preferred strike zone.Yet Nadal blitzed Djokovic, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion and Djokovic’s coach, said that loss had staggered Djokovic, especially after his disqualification from the United States Open in September, when he inadvertently swatted a ball into a line judge’s throat.The win gave Nadal his 20th Grand Slam title, tying him with Roger Federer for the most in the history of the men’s game. Djokovic pulled to within two of them in February, when he won his ninth Australian Open championship.Now he and Nadal are meeting with only a berth in Sunday’s final on the line, even if it may not really feel that way. Neither of the two other semifinalists, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, has won a Grand Slam title.At least, the great matchup should be completed with plenty of time before curfew. The Panama hats will be out in force.Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, left, will face Alexander Zverev of Germany in the other men’s semifinal on Friday.Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images More
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek all feature on the second day of quarterfinals at Roland Garros.How to watch: 5 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on the Tennis Channel, streaming on Tennis Channel Plus.Iga Swiatek is the only player remaining in the women’s draw who has previously reached the final of a Grand Slam event. Swiatek, the defending champion, is still the favorite to win the tournament, but the inspired performances of those left in the draw means that it won’t be easy for her to reach the women’s singles final on Saturday.Here are some matches to keep an eye on.Because of the number of matches cycling through courts, the times for individual matchups are estimates and may fluctuate based on when earlier play is completed. All times are Eastern.Phillipe Chatrier Court | 5 a.m.Coco Gauff vs. Barbora KrejcikovaBarbora Krejcikova, the world No. 33, is primarily a doubles specialist, having won two Grand Slam tournament events and reached at least the semifinals on six other occasions. After a fourth-round breakout in singles at the French Open last year, Krejcikova has bettered her performance once again, by outmaneuvering opponents who focus on the power of their shots.Coco Gauff, the 24th seed, has secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic tennis team and is now playing in her first major quarterfinal. She has often impressed with her mental strength and has improved her point construction over the past few years. This match promises to be tactically astute, and a good lesson for any tennis player on how to play patiently.Iga Swiatek after winning her fourth-round match against Marta Kostyuk on Monday.Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersPhillipe Chatrier Court | 7 a.m.Iga Swiatek vs. Maria SakkariIga Swiatek, the eighth seed and the defending champion, has barnstormed back into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros without dropping a set, an impressive show of consistency from the 20-year-old.Maria Sakkari, the 17th seed, has reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal after an impressive upset over last year’s finalist, Sofia Kenin. Sakkari’s powerful baseline shots can unsettle even the steadiest players, and Swiatek will need to counter with some inventive play.Rafael Nadal has looked unstoppable at this year’s French Open.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesPhillipe Chatrier Court | 9 a.m.Rafael Nadal vs. Diego SchwartzmanDiego Schwartzman, the 10th seed, has not dropped a set on his way to the quarterfinals. The clay court specialist reached the semifinals of the French Open last year but lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.Nadal, a 13-time French Open champion, has once again looked like an unstoppable force. However, a change in style has become clear this year. When he was younger, Nadal won matches on clay by slowly grinding his opponents down. He has switched to more aggressive points, putting shots away and coming to the net more quickly. This style has won him 35 straight sets over the past couple of years, and it seems likely that he will continue to cruise through to the next round.Novak Djokovic had to fight back from two sets down during his fourth-round match against Lorenzo Musetti on Monday.Ian Langsdon/EPA, via ShutterstockPhillipe Chatrier Court | 2 p.m.Novak Djokovic vs. Matteo BerrettiniNovak Djokovic, the first seed, was pushed by Lorenzo Musetti to five sets in his round of 16 match. Djokovic lost the first two sets in tight tiebreakers as Musetti played an inspired stretch of tennis before Djokovic rallied, losing only one game before Musetti retired in the fifth set.Matteo Berrettini, the ninth seed, had a bit of luck, getting a walkover as Roger Federer withdrew from the French Open ahead of their round of 16 match. Now, well rested, Berrettini will be trying to take the initiative and draw on his striking power to push Djokovic to the edge of his capabilities. More
The player who turned defense into an art form fights to avoid the wars of attrition he battled as a younger athlete. At 35, that is what he must do.PARIS — His hair is thinning on top. His knees can be shaky. In January, he suddenly came down with a balky back that almost forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open.And yet, with his win Monday over Jannik Sinner of Italy, a 19-year-old rising star, Rafael Nadal surged into the final eight once again at the tournament he has essentially owned since 2005. It’s just that he owns it in a different way than he used to.Nadal was not perfect Monday in his 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 win. He was down 5-3 in the first set before winning four straight games. He coughed up a 4-0 lead in the second. But as he nearly always has on the clay at Roland Garros, he made all the necessary shots, joy-sticking Sinner around the court as though he had a metal rod inserted into his chest.“At some point he was playing and I was only running,” Sinner said.Nadal has won the French Open 13 times. France’s tennis federation unveiled a statue of him on the grounds here before the tournament began, a steel abstraction of the final moments of his powerful forehand shot. Monday’s win was his 104th at Roland Garros.The victory moved Nadal, seeded third because of his current ranking despite all his success in Paris, closer to a semifinal showdown with Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1. Djokovic beat the 19-year-old Italian upstart Lorenzo Musetti in one of the more bizarre matches of this tournament. Djokovic appeared lost for the first two sets, missing his targets and uncharacteristically dropping two tiebreakers.Then he took a bathroom break and returned a steadied player, winning 12 of the next 13 games to knot the match at two sets each. He won four more games before Musetti retired down 4-0 in the fifth set.But the 35-year-old version of Nadal looming in the semifinals for Djokovic, 34, is plenty different from the Nadal who started winning in Paris long ago.Back then, Nadal was a defender of the first order. He hunkered down behind the baseline, chased down every ball and, especially on the red clay he loves so much, turned his matches at Roland Garros into wars of attrition.That was not the Nadal whom Sinner met Monday in the round of 16, or the one Cam Norrie of Britain ran into in the third round over the weekend. The Nadal of today, who knows there are only so many five-hour marathon matches a veteran player can survive, targets speed and efficiency nearly as much as victories.“I do what I can in every moment of course,” he said. “If I can win quicker, better.”Nowadays Nadal works to win matches faster.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesBy now, several years into this latter era of Nadal dominance on clay, opponents have become accustomed to what to expect, but they still come away staggered from the experience.“It’s amazing how quick he was after his serve to find his forehand,” Norrie said after his loss. Norrie felt like he was playing pretty well against Nadal, but as he spoke his eyes appeared glazed, as though he had just seen something he could not quite believe. “The guy is relentless.”Between points, Nadal is as deliberate as ever. He sweats profusely, and towels off at every opportunity he can manage.He swears he does not have obsessive compulsive disorder, but he still must carry through with his series of tics and tasks before play starts, sweeping lines clean with his foot, whacking his shoes with his racket three times before his first serve to free the soles of the clay, bouncing the ball over and over until it feels just right in his hand before he tosses it.Once the point starts though, Nadal has become more relentless with each passing year, especially since 2016, when he began working full-time with Carlos Moya, the retired Spanish player and former world No. 1 who won the French Open in 1998.Shifts in tennis strategy can appear subtle on the surface, but they can have outsized effects on the way points, games and matches unfold.In Nadal’s case, Hawkeye’s laser cameras, which have become more prevalent during the past decade and take hundreds of measurements per second of the ball and the court position of each player, tell the story.When Sam Maclean, a data analyst with Hawkeye, combed through the numbers, the data showed exactly how Nadal had tweaked his playing style in his 30s, becoming more aggressive and trying to end points as quickly as he can, even if he will never be someone who finishes many points at the net.Not surprisingly, the change is especially apparent during Nadal’s service games, when he has the best chance to control what happens during the point.From 2012 to 2016, Nadal hit 30 percent of his first shots after his serves from inside the baseline. But each year he has worked with Moya, that number has risen, first to 36 percent, then to 39 percent, then to 41 percent, and last year to 42 percent.Nadal served against Jannik Sinner during their fourth round match on Monday.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesWhy is that so important? Because when Nadal hits that first shot from inside the baseline, he wins 74 percent of the points. When he hits the first shot from behind the baseline, he wins just 59 percent of the points.And while Nadal often drifts deep into the back court when his opponents serve, the points quickly evolve into a fight for him to get forward, to that nub of tape in the middle of the baseline he earlier kicked clean to give himself a target to scurry toward during the point.Even though Nadal is giving himself less time to set up by stepping into the court for that first shot, he is still hitting the ball back as hard as he always did, on average about 75 miles per hour, according to Hawkeye, with a fierce level of topspin that makes his ball feel like a rock on his opponents’ rackets.“He’s the only guy who is playing like that with his forehand topspin,” said Richard Gasquet of France, who managed to win just seven games against Nadal in their second-round match.Gasquet said it was impossible to prepare for Nadal because there was no one to practice against who hits the ball even remotely like he does. Gasquet is the same age as Nadal and has been playing him since they were teenagers. He spent years in the top 10. He is 0-16 against him in ATP Tour events, and the victories are as decisive as ever, even as Nadal should be deteriorating.“It was really hard for me to play,” Gasquet said after his loss.Alexei Popyrin of Australia, Nadal’s first-round victim, was proud just to come close to winning a set.“It’s his court,” Popyrin said after his defeat. “It will always be his court.” More
