Echoes of the recent past fade in Riyadh: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic face each other, there will be no more.
This is their umpteenth duel (we have seen sixty fights between the two on the ATP circuit; it is the most repeated rivalry in the history of tennis, a dozen more than the Federer-Djokovic), it is an exhibition, and for statistical purposes it is not account. And yet, its narrative is definitive.
Nadal and Djokovic (46 Grand Slam titles between them) will not face each other again. They are two icons in their autumn, particularly in the case of the manacorí (today it is the 153rd racket in the world).
The clash is the appetizer for the Sinner-Alcaraz final (the classic that will be played half an hour later and will catch us for the next decade) and Riad takes it with a certain passivity. We noticed empty seats in this exhibition of the Six Kings Slam at the Kingdom Arena. But Nadal and Djokovic care little: they fight each other thoroughly.
Not even in the millionaire pachangas there is a truce.
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Djokovic sets the pace from the beginning and the Manacorí limps (38 years old carries a burden, and dozens of notches condition his physique, the latest being this abdominal injury that has hampered him for two years). Nadal’s tour is already due, there is one last surprise, the Davis Cup finals in mid-November, and then, to take care of little Rafael, his two-year-old child who, in Mery’s arms, contemplates the future of his father .
The father wants his son to see him win.
Djokovic (37) doesn’t allow it.
In a flash the first set is decided, the Serbian (fourth in the world today) takes it after breaking Nadal’s serve on two occasions, and Carlos Moyá, the Manacorí coach, confesses to international television:
-It is one of his last games and against the greatest of his rivals. Nadal may be feeling the nerves and emotions. But I am convinced that his tennis will improve in the second round.
Rafael Nadal, during his duel against Novak Djokovic, this Saturday in Riyadh
Moyá is right, there is a reason he has been coaching the Manacorí for five years, and the second set is even. Nadal gains mobility, accelerates his dynamics and also serves and hits harder. Both myths are broken service on one occasion. Balanced, they reach the decisive stretch, and here Djokovic, a master when he walks the walk, much more confident in addition, seems to multiply: he takes over the penultimate game by breaking Nadal’s serve and is one step away from resolving the mess.
And yet it gets stuck.
When Djokovic serves to win, the manacorí surprises him. Nadal puts on the magician’s cape and plays around and makes life difficult for the Serbian. He breaks it, 5-5 in the second set, come on, a little more time contemplating the icons, we’ll immediately go to the tie break.
Here, at last, Nadal’s resistance is overcome: he fails on a volley, facilitates Djokovic’s mini-break and carpe diem, here the most generous rivalry in the history of tennis is defeated, we are left in the hands of Alcaraz and Sinner .
-We have had battles for almost twenty years, since 2005, and now I hope to meet you on a beach, with a glass of wine, to talk about all these memories – says Djokovic when they give him the microphone.
And the Saudi government gives the Manacori a golden racket, and then Nadal closes the scene.
“Thank you for everything you have given me, Djokovic,” he responds to the Serbian. Without your contribution, I would not have become the player I have become.
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