Moment 7: Djokovic stumbles into net, opening door for Nadal to seize Roland Garros classic
GOAT Race is our 10-part look back at the times when the Grand Slam title chase might have gone a different way.
THE BREAK: Nadal's surgery update
Is the Big 3’s Grand Slam title race finally over? It appears so. Now that we (probably) know the winner, we’re looking back at the times when this two-decade marathon might have gone a different way.
For more on GOAT Race, a 10-part series leading up to Wimbledon, read...
- Moment 1: 2007 Wimbledon final: Nadal “seizes up” with break points in the fifth
- Moment 2: 2008 Wimbledon final: Federer’s four-hour comeback comes up one break point short
- Moment 3: 2010 US Open semifinal: Djokovic “closes his eyes” and hits two huge, match-saving forehands against Federer
- Moment 4: 2011 Roland Garros semifinal: Federer stops a 41-match win streak, and wags a finger
- Moment 5: 2011 US Open semifinal: Djokovic's all-or-nothing forehand return heard 'round the world
- Moment 6: At 1:37 a.m., Djokovic topples Nadal in grandiose, grunt-filled Aussie Open epic
2013 Roland Garros semifinal: Novak picks a bad time to stumble into the net
The list of classic, close, consequential men’s matches at Roland Garros over the last 20 years is an exceedingly short one. That’s mainly because the tournament’s most consequential player during that time hardly played any. Of the 112 wins that Rafael Nadal has recorded in Paris since 2005, only three have gone to five sets.
His 4-hour-and-37-minute semifinal with Novak Djokovic in 2013 is the glaring exception. As a brash teenager in 2006, Djokovic had declared that Nadal was “beatable” in Paris, and he would eventually beat him twice there. But not before Nadal held him off by making this brilliant, desperate defense of his home turf. It was the second Grand Slam epic that the two men contested, and in many ways it was the mirror image of the first, the 2012 Australian Open final. In each match, the eventual loser temporarily staved off defeat by winning a fourth-set tiebreaker, took a 4-2 lead in the fifth set, and then gave that lead back by committing a memorable blunder in the seventh game. In Melbourne, it was Nadal who blundered; in Paris, it was Djokovic.
On this bright, hot, windy day, the momentum swung rapidly and unpredictably from one set to the next. Like two boxers in a 15-round fight, each man took a punch, staggered to the sideline, and came out swinging again. Rather than tire each other out, though, Nadal and Djokovic pushed each other to play better and run farther. In the fifth set, the quality of the match peaked, and the haymakers flew from both ends. Up 4-3 and serving at deuce, though, Djokovic overreached with a punch. After putting together a brilliant rally to set up an easy forehand volley into an open court, he stumbled into the net before the ball had bounced twice. A point that was about to go to Djokovic went to Nadal instead. Rafa broke for 4-4.
But that wasn’t the final act. The Serb and the Spaniard kept at it for eight more games; if anything, the rallies only became more frenetic as the fifth set went into overtime. This is the type of scenario that typically ends with a Djokovic win, but not at Roland Garros against Rafa. Serving at 7-8, Djokovic finally blinked.
The 2012 Australian Open final was “for him,” Nadal said. “This one was for me.”
What would have happened if Djokovic hadn’t stumbled into the net, and had gone on to win? Chances are, his first Roland Garros title would have come three years earlier than it did. Waiting in the final was David Ferrer, a player Djokovic would beat 16 times in 21 meetings. But it was Nadal who faced him, and easily beat him, instead.