In tennis, only one point counts: the last one. A game is held open with that last ball. You put it in the right place and it goes on, there is another ball to play, another chance to continue playing, to live. They did this for over four hours Nadal and Djokovic in the most anticipated match of the year, a quarter-final which was the real final of Roland Garros.
On social media there are those who joked about it: it began in May (at 9 o’clock in the evening of the 31st not without controversy) and ended and in June (it had been about ten minutes past one), for the first time a final was played on Tuesday. All true and all so divine that it seems epic. Not that there were no mistakes, on both sides, but there are a tennis match that seemed to never end. There have been longer ones in history, but here it is literally night.
The hashtag #DjokovicNadal went immediately in trend, who was in front of the TV instead could not leave. Too exciting to see the tennis masters, the old ones would say: 35 years old Djokovic, 36 years old the day after tomorrow Nadal. But how do you say old duo who played 88 minutes in the second set, a compendium of all the best of tennis. Neither perfect, in tennis and physique, both magnificent for that very reason. Novak Djokovic was not the springboard he usually is, capable of fetching every ball. Rafa Nadal I had moments of pause, even if in the first set he won he showed the best of his repertoire and of the two he was the freshest one despite having fewer sets in his legs.
Mesmerizing is the right word for this match with a football World Cup final crowd and cheer. The tics of one, the character of the other that is enhanced when the public cheers for the opponent. In the end there are those who were ready for hot donuts for breakfast and offered coffee. All jokes of course, but daughters of the passion in following an imperfect game of two players who have been close to perfection for years now. Just to know won with merit Rafa Nadal (6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6 after 4 hours and 11 minutes) who points straight to the 14th title in Paris, the 22nd in his career while Nole remains stuck at 20. In the semifinal he meets Zverev who beat Alcaraz.
A couple of days ago one of his words appeared as an announcement of withdrawal, a hypothesis of last time at Roland Garros. He no longer looks like him after seeing him on the pitch in the most important match. The years do not seem to count, but the tenacity as the motto of Roland Garros says, aviator of the First World War to whom the tournament is dedicated. If victory really belongs to the most tenacious, no one is more tenacious than Rafa Nadal from Manacor, 36 years old the day after tomorrow.
– Matteo Berrettini and his brother Jacopo at the Cannes Film Festival: star night
– Children and sports, “The best coach is the one who teaches how to lose”
Source: Vanity Fair
