Spain’s Rafael Nadal won a historic semifinal against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris on 7th June Friday to remain the King of Clay for at least another couple of days.
Amazingly, the seven-time champion Nadal twice allowed a lead slip away in the fourth set, subsequently came from behind in the fifth set to hammer the World no. 1-ranked Djokovic by 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 9-7 in four and a half hours.
Stunningly, the match consisted of high drama featuring a near tumble over the net, a point penalty, trick-shot mishaps, warnings for time wasting and angry outbursts. However, it was the sinew-stretching rallies that made the difference.
Actually, Nadal tolerated the world no.1 Djokovic's tendon-twisting baseline onslaught to extend his run at the claycourt major to a jaw-dropping score of 58-1 and reached an unprecedented 8th Paris final against David Ferrer of Spain. A highly relieved Nadal exclaimed that this was very special for him in French in a courtside interview as sweat trickled down his face. He assured that Novak is a fighter and he will win here one day. But he was ready for the fight.
On the other side, a defeated Djokovic was left utterly depressed. The top seed tennis player who needed the Musketeers' Cup to complete his grand slam silverware rued that he lost the match after five hours. He wanted this title so much as it's been an unbelievable match to be part of. At last all he could feel was disappointment.
It came to light that in the 35th meeting between the players, Djokovic had intimidated to give Nadal a rough ride as he won four games in the run to take the second set. However the Serb was rapidly given a reality check when he claimed only 12 points in a hopelessly one-sided third set. Further, Nadal stood two points from the final in the fourth set when he mysteriously allowed Djokovic off the hook by dropping serve at 6-5 up. The Serb hit a daring forehand winner to break before saluting his camp with a raised fist. The Spanish player’s shoulders started sagging as Djokovic penetrated a hole through his master game-plan by blitzing through the fourth set tiebreak by 7-3. At the end Djokovic punched his chest with a clenched fist and then threatened to hammer Nadal in the fifth set as he streaked into a 4-2 lead.
Fortunately, Roland Garros is Nadal's domain and over the years grand slam champions in the potential of Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya have all attempted - and failed - to conquer the claycourt supremo. Bizarrely, six times a major winner Djokovic ended up being no different. He served 4-3 up and 40-40 and ultimately left behind fuming when he was warned by umpire Pascal Maria for wasting time. He reverted back by launching into his serve and hastened in to forcefully smash the ball away for a point that should have pushed him into advantage.
To the astonishment of everyone, he tumbled and almost over, the net and the umpire awarded the point to Nadal, leaving behind Djokovic to wigwag wildly and squabble loudly. A hot and bothered rival is exactly what Nadal wanted and he expected no second invitation to pounce and break. If that was the most embarrassing situation for Djokovic, two games later Nadal deteriorated the condition of his opponent very badly when he hit a between-the-leg trick shot while running towards the baseline and the Serbian timely smashed the ball into the net. As a result, the crowd cheered, Djokovic threw daggers while Nadal grinned sheepishly.
An enraged Djokovic howled at the umpire that he was not even looking at the court and was not taking any decision. After 10 minutes, Nadal took the decision out of everyone's hands when he hit a forehand long on match point, leaving the Spanish to leap into the air in celebration.
Nadal accepted after carving out a 20th win over his rival that he really fought a lot and did not let a point penalty in the third set throw him off course. Being nostalgic, the Spanish winner recollected that a similar match was won by Novak in Australia in 2012. Today it was him which made the sport very big.
