By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Scrolling through old emails and notes I wrote to myself in my Microsoft Outlook, I found a quote I heard TV sports reporter Jim Gray said in advance of the May 2 Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match, saying it will be the biggest sporting event in the United States since the 1984 Olympics.
The anticipated Roland Garros confrontation between Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal had a bit of the same feel of the much over-hyped Mayweather win over Pacquiao.
“Anticlimatic” is how Patrick McEnroe described Djokovic’s comprehensive 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Nadal on ESPN2.
The loss was only the second in 11 French Opens for Nadal – his fourth round loss to Robin Soderling in 2009 being the lone blemish on the Roland Garros clay for the nine-time champion. The win for Djokovic extended his match win streak in 2015 to 28 and moved him a major step forward to winning his elusive first French singles title that would complete a career Grand Slam for the Serbian. A win at Roland Garros would also stoke the fires of talk of Djokovic possibly winning a calendar-year Grand Slam, joining only two other men in tennis history – Rod Laver and Don Budge – to achieve the monumental feat.
The pre-match Nadal-Djokovic hype that permeated through the grounds and talk of Roland Garros since the draw was made nearly two weeks ago prompted a Tuesday night email from me to tennis historian Steve Flink in Paris.
Flink is the author of the book “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All-Time” (available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0942257936/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_iOZBvb1FZXHH4) and is in my book (excuse the pun) the go-to man in tennis to provide perspectives on the best matches in the history of the sport.
“Do you remember a quarterfinal that had as much hype and anticipation as this one in tennis history?” I asked in the email “The Andre Agassi – Pete Sampras night match at the Open is one. I remember a Ivan Lendl – John McEnroe one at the US Open in 1987 too.”
“You made a good analogy with Sampras and Agassi” responded Flink, who features the Agassi vs. Sampras U.S. Open quarterfinal from 2001 in his “Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time” book – a match that lived up to and perhaps exceeded its hype, unlike Nadal and Djokovic.
“The Djokovic-Nadal match did not live up to the pre-match hype because Djokovic was decidedly better than his opponent, but it did feature some top of the line tennis, especially over the first two sets,” Flink emailed. “Djokovic is the best player in the world by far at the moment, and he was primed for this meeting with Nadal. He had never beaten the Spaniard in six tries previously at Roland Garros but I was convinced he would come through this time because he has never been better prepared for the French Open and Nadal has never come in here with larger self-doubts. That combination was critical to the outcome.”
The first set provided the most drama as after Djokovic cruised to a two-break 4-0 lead, Nadal grinded his way to draw even at 4-4, saved three set points at 4-5 and two more at 5-6 before relenting the riveting first set.
“It would have been devastating to Djokovic to lose that opening set after building a two service break lead, but I still believe that set was more critical to Nadal, who has lost so much confidence over the course of a disappointing 2015 season,” wrote Flink. “It surely would have given Nadal a considerable lift to pull out that set, but frankly I still think Djokovic would have refocused to win the match. But once Nadal lost that set after so much effort to get back into it, there was an air of inevitability about it all. Djokovic had the match in his hands and he knew it. He pulled out of reach with a seven game streak from 3-3 in the second set to 4-0 in the third. He had too much speed, power and versatility and Nadal had no way to stay with him.”
While not as romantic and full of contrasts as the Nadal vs. Roger Federer rivalry – or others such as Agassi vs. Sampras, Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe or Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova – the Nadal vs. Djokovic rivalry is the prevalent in the history of men’s tennis. The two have met 44 times in their careers, Djokovic’s win on Wednesday being his 20th over the Spaniard.
Their 2012 Australian Open final was rated No. 7 all-time in Flink’s book (the match literally stopped the presses of the book’s production as can be read about here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6294) This quarterfinal is nowhere near that threshold but could be seen as a pivotal match in the history of the game should Djokovic go on to win his first French title – and potentially complete a Grand Slam in New York in September.
“This was one of the most eagerly anticipated quarterfinals in modern tennis history,” wrote Flink. “The Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi quarterfinal at the U.S. Open of 2001 was the closest parallel with two iconic Americans playing astounding tennis in a four tie-break match with no service breaks, and Sampras was the deserving winner. But both players were in their twilight. The difference here is that Djokovic is at his peak and clearly No. 1 in the world while Nadal was going for a tenth title in eleven years. Moreover, Djokovic has never won the French Open and had lost two finals and an epic semifinal to Nadal. So this was very enticing for fans and the media.”
