22:19
Nadal – Djokovic 6: 2, 3: 0
Djokovic has to cook internally. At 15: 0 he serves to the outside, stands close to the net and still only throws the ball into the field separation. But the 35-year-old stays cool, scores the next two points and has two balls on the racket. After an avoidable mistake and a backhand winner from his opponent, however, he still has to go through debut. A slight forehand error by the Serb then actually leads to a breakball for the Spaniard, who can also use it immediately. Djokovic gets his opponent on the net with a stop, but is then surprised longline. double break!
22:13
Nadal – Djokovic 6-2, 2-0
The audience jumps up for what feels like the umpteenth time, and rightly so! Djokovic dominates the rally with great forehands until Nadal unpacks the backhand cross pass ball in dire need. He then served his second ace of the match through the middle to make it 30-0. It remains spectacular even after that. Nadal plays a short slice after Djokovic’s return and knocks the forehand, which was almost taken as a half volley, around his ears as a winner longline. With a service winner on the second serve, he confirms the break.
22:10
Nadal – Djokovic 6-2, 1-0
The very fine blade from Nadal. The Spaniard whips a forehand longline into the Platzeck, Djokovic gets it out fantastically. But then the Manacor bull moves up, plays the inside-out stop and secures the fifth break chance. However, Nole can save himself for the fifth time because his backhand longline is too good. And it goes back and forth: Rafa can grab the breakball again because his forehand plops at full speed right on the line and is unreachable. Djokovic continues to defend himself, he smashes his way to the net. What follows? Of course – break chance number seven because the Serb fails on the net. Then something new: The breakball sits! Nadal goes aggressively into the rallies, throws the forehand cross over and completes the 1-0 in this set without any problems.
22:05
Nadal – Djokovic 6-2, 0-0
Outstanding what Nadal partly deducts here. Djokovic plays a backhand cross, which the Spaniard brings back cross with an insane angle. He easily makes the following volley clear for a breakball. Nole almost slipped away. Again, however, the defending champion can pull himself out of the affair, although he has to work hard to do so, but shoots a backhand winner from the half field onto the pitch. A very simple backhand error by the Serb subsequently leads to the fourth breakball of the game, where this time Nadal produces the avoidable backhand error. The game now lasts nine minutes.
22:01
Nadal – Djokovic 6-2, 0-0
The second set is running, Djokovic opens it with his own serve. Again it will be a hard piece of work for the East European, because Nadal pushes an outstanding backhand cross to the line at 15:30 from his point of view. The following smash he easily hits both on the field for the 30th. Here the djoker gets stuck on the net as a result of his opponent’s forehand cross – break possibility. On the return, however, the Mallorcan becomes a touch too long, which is why it has to go beyond the debut. Once again, the 13-time French Open winner fires a great forehand down the line, leaving Djokovic unable to react and having to fend off another breakball. He succeeds with famous forehand strokes. Debut again.
21:53
Nadal – Djokovic 6-2, 0-0
Annoying error of the Manacor bull. With a powerful forehand from the half field, he sends Djokovic far into the backhand corner. However, he only counters this on the net. However, he reacts perfectly to this: he refines the serve to the outside with the forehand winner from the middle of the field into the open court. But now the Djoker again – he hammers an inside-in unreachable into the corner of the court to 30:15. Here the Spaniard does it better this time: he comes to the net again, but clears the volley there at 30:30. A wrong backhand hit by the world number one leads to the first set ball of the match after about 50 minutes. He can transform it right away because Djokovic doesn’t really manage the return. Nadal cheers himself on – there is a lot at stake for both of them.
21:47
Nadal – Djokovic 5: 2
Nole now serves against losing the set. At 15 both he plays a difficult half volley very well, Rafa chases the lob out of bounds on the run. Even after that, the Serb remains aggressive, hitting his forehand inside-in on the baseline and getting two balls. He can use the first one due to a slight Nadal error.
21:44
Nadal 5-1 Djokovic
If Nadal can confirm the second break then things are looking very, very good for him in this set – and that seems to be the case. He quickly goes 40-0 in front, then a Djokovic return flies just behind the line.
21:39
Nadal 4-1 Djokovic
Djokovic is now under pressure again. At 15:15, however, he slipped a little too far into the ball, so that his forehand ended up in the net on the sideline. But he recovers great from that: After a long rally he slams a backhand cross very flat on the line to the 30 both. The Belgrade then slips a forehand from the middle of the field into the net – breakball. Nadal uses it with an incredible forehand down the line. The ball cannot be played faster and flatter. 4:1
21:33
Nadal 3-1 Djokovic
Again Nadal unpacks his best tennis. His forehand means Djokovic has to run from left to right and back. In the end, it’s too much for the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who finds himself exposed to a cue ball again. A forehand that jumped out of the net makes Nadal cheer – 3: 1.
21:31
Nadal 2-1 Djokovic
Another great rally! Both players send each other back and forth, then Nadal fishes out a high-jumping forehand from his opponent with a backhand played on the line. Djokovic finally ends the rally with an avoidable forehand error. But then the Serb reacted excellently, caught some of Nadal’s powerful forehands and forced him to make a mistake with a backhand longline. Since he then remains on the trigger, he also grabs the first two break chances. He misses number one due to a backhand slice error, and in number two the Spaniard comes to the net after hitting a great forehand attack ball to equalize with a smash to debut. Here the Djoker has to go to the net after a short backhand from Nadal, where he puts the backhand ball out in response to the opponent’s praise. Rafa spoiled the game ball on the net. Deuce again.
21:23
Nadal 2-1 Djokovic
This is now much better for the world number one. He rushes through his service game relatively quickly, which he crowns with an ace.
21:20
Nadal 2-0 Djokovic
Now Nadal can try his serve for the first time. Again, things get tight here. After a good return from the Serb it’s 30 all, then Rafa follows up with a forehand winner and a winner at the net from an opponent’s stop. Break confirmed.
21:14
Nadal 1-0 Djokovic
It’s only the first game – and we’re seeing damn good tennis! Nadal unpacks a weak lob, but reacts brilliantly to Nole’s backhand cross at the net and sends the ball into the open court. Breakball! This time Djokovic tries the stop, then overwhelms Nadal and benefits from his failed backwards overhead volley. Because the Belgrade sends a backhand too long without needing to, there is the second breakball. A backhand longline forces the Mallorcan to make a mistake, which in turn responds with a crisp forehand down the line. The Djoker is too short – break chance number three. This time Djokovic just got stuck on the edge of the net with his backhand. Break – after more than ten minutes of play.
21:09
Nadal 0-0 Djokovic
And the second rally is fantastic. The Spaniard sends the Serbs around the court with extremely powerful forehand shots. He again defends himself brilliantly until, out of necessity, stroke 22 only rushes into the net. Nole countered with a forehand winner from the middle of the field, but then Nadal again unpacked a fine winning shot from the baseline. And because Nadal caught his opponent on the wrong foot at 30:40 from his point of view as a result of a net edge hit by Djokovic with the forehand, it’s about a debut.
21:04
Nadal 0-0 Djokovic
Let’s go, Djoker serves first. Nadal whips a very simple forehand from the half-field behind the baseline.
20:48
Nadal vs. Djokovic – there was no duel more often
The two tennis giants met 58 times, no other match was played more often. The Serb won 30 of these games, and Nadal was victorious 28 times. Of course, the statistics don’t matter for today. However, another chapter is guaranteed to be added to it.
20:42
Djokovic – the way to the round of 8
In contrast to his opponent, the Djoker didn’t have to give up a set today. Against Yoshihito Nishioka (6:3, 6:1, 6:0), Alex Molcan (6:2, 6:3, 7:6), Aljaz Bedene (6:3, 6:3, 6:2) and last He dominated Diego Schwartzman (6:1, 6:3, 6:3) from start to finish. Of course, the most difficult conceivable task is now waiting with Nadal – only: The Serb wants to catch up with the Manacor bull again when it comes to Grand Slam victories. And he only showed in last year’s semifinals that he can beat him in Roland Garros.
20:36
Djokovic – back at the top of the world
Djokovic’s year didn’t always go smoothly either – on the contrary. Excluded from the Australian Open, he failed early in February in Dubai (against Jiri Vesely). The comeback on clay was also initially disappointing: in Monte Carlo (against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round) he was eliminated straight away. But then he gradually increased. In Belgrade (final defeat against Andrey Rublev) and in Madrid (semi-final defeat against Carlos Alcaraz) he improved, in Rome he even won the title (clear two-set win against Stefanos Tsitsipas).
20:32
Nadal – the way to the round of 8
At first everything went smoothly for the Mallorquin at his absolute favorite tournament. The 13-time trophy winner beat back-to-back Jordan Thompson (6-2, 6-2, 6-2), Corentin Moutet (6-3, 6-1, 6-4) and Botic van de Zandschulp (6-3, 6-6). 2, 6:4) smoothly in three sentences. Only in the fourth round was he really challenged. In the end he had to go the full distance against Felix Auger Alisassime (3:6, 6:3, 6:2, 3:6, 6:3), but still got the upper hand. A first sign of declining performance – or a much-needed test to reach a new level of performance?
20:28
Nadal – Is he disabled?
It’s still a bit unclear how fit the record Grand Slam winner Nadal is at the moment. After his long injury break, he returned to the tour a few weeks ago. However, in both Madrid (against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals) and in Rome (against Denis Shapovalov in the third round), he was eliminated relatively early on his favorite clay court surface. The preparation for Roland Garros was not ideal.
20:17
Hi!
Hello and welcome to the quarterfinals of the French Open! In the absolute top duel, Rafael Nadal faces Novak Djokovic. The match between the two finalists from last year begins at around 8:45 p.m.