It was a tough end to Roger Federer’s return to clay, on which he was playing for the first time since 2016 and for the first time at the French Open since 2015.
That he lost to Rafael Nadal in Friday’s first semifinal will not be a tough pill to swallow; Nadal was a massive favorite and Federer did not play poorly. It was simply a tough day at the office.
Federer threw everything he had at Nadal for two entertaining and mostly competitive sets before the King of Clay raced away to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory. After two hours and 25 minutes of play amidst howling winds and unusually cold temperatures, Nadal set up a showdown against either Novak Djokovic or Dominic Thiem in the championship match.
“Being in (the) final of Roland Garros again means a lot again, and especially coming back from not an easy situation for all the injuries that I had,” said the 11-time Roland Garros winner, who suffered a knee injury in Indian Wells and missed the following Masters 1000 event Miami. “Being able to recover the level that I had the last couple of weeks is something that I am very proud of.”
Nadal had no trouble making it back to his 12th French final. He has surrendered only one set through six matches, although Federer at least managed to make things interesting for a while on Friday. The 37-year-old Swiss broke serve once in both the first and second sets but failed to consolidate on either occasion.
What proved to be Federer’s last gasp came when he dropped serve from 40-0 up at 4-4 in the second. It was all Nadal the rest of the way.
“I think the beginning of the match [was not] the perfect level for both of us,” Nadal assessed. “But after five, six games, the match I think became a match with a good level of tennis, no? [There were] some great points.
“Being honest, with that conditions out there, (to) play the way that we played [was a great level of tennis because the conditions [were] so tough.”
The combination of extreme wind and the best clay-court player in tennis history made it even more difficult for Federer. He was broken six times, committed 34 unforced errors to Nadal’s 19, and won only 17 of 35 net approaches.
“I think he does that to anybody on the clay,” Federer said of being unable to control the match against Nadal. “He makes you feel uncomfortable the way he defends the court and plays on clay.
“There is nobody who even plays remotely close to him. I don’t even know who I need to go search for to go practice with somebody who plays like him. I was thinking that during the match. It’s just amazing how he plays from deep and then is able to bounce back and forth from the baseline.”
How’s this for amazing? The 33-year-old Spaniard is now 92-2 lifetime at the French Open.
Will Djokovic or Thiem be able to prevent match win No. 93 and title No. 12? Only time will tell. But we know that if neither the conditions nor Federer take down Nadal, it’s going to be very, very tough.
congrats!
Yes congrats to Rafa!
Rafa plays amazing tennis in the wind! He serves very well too, which is quite surprising considering the windy conditions. Vamos Rafa, go win the title!
Maybe Roger should have asked Rafa to practice with him, lol! Knowing Rafa he might have done just that.
That first qualifier that Rafa played said he’d scraped up a couple of lefties and asked them to “play like Nadal” but afterwards he said what Roger said, “no one plays like him”.
While I’ve only watched the first set and a bit so far, yes, it was an amazing level of tennis from both guys under the conditions. These two aging giants just *showed up*. But what else would you expect?
Watched the match on the big screen and some of the shots from both were simply amazing!! I was glad I was there to witness tennis history!!
Conditions were tough but dealt with it like champions unlike some!!
Vamos Rafa!! May u bring the trophy home!!
Rafa is unbelievable mankind in tennis history.
With his level of play, 15 RG trophies is always possible.
He looks eternally young and strong whenever playing at RG.
Two great champions, but Rafa just too strong!