“Felix is a great player, one of the best in the world. He is very young, with a lot of power and great mobility (…) He is doing things well and improving year after year,” he said of his rival, advised by Toni Nadal, uncle of the Mallorcan and his coach for most of his career (until 2018).
The 13-time champion in Paris started unknown, without serve (he only won 53% of the points with his first serve) and that translated into two breaks start for the young Canadian, who managed to close the first set on his second chance (3-6). The loss of the first set did not seem to make Nadal react, who went through another difficult moment when he had to save two break points that would have given Auger-Aliassime the advantage again. That game changed the dynamic of the match: Nadal gained confidence, his forehand began to enter, the first service also and he made only a few errors to equalize a set equal (6-3).
Without seeing the best Nadal in Paris, the Spaniard also scored the third set (6-2), imposing his greatest experience in matches of this importance: the Canadian did not take advantage of any of the three balls he had to make the break and Nadal took advantage of two to stay a single set from the quarterfinals. ‘FAA’ reacted in the fourth set, breaking Nadal’s serve twice from the start and with a ace He placed the 1-4 on the scoreboard, with the Spaniard making the same mistakes as at the beginning.
With everything to decide, the fifth set was very close and aware of what was at stake, Nadal was careful with his service, giving up only five points in the first 4 games with his serve. And in the eighth game came the decisive moment. He pressured the Canadian with very long and placed shots to earn a break point, which was scored after hitting an impossible dropshot from Auger-Aliassime to put her on the other side of the net and move within a game of victory.
“I didn’t start the match well. In the first set I didn’t manage to convert all the opportunities I created. In the third set I played better, but the beginning of the fourth was difficult. He has a great serve (194 km/h on average with the first serve) and I couldn’t return it”, declared the Spaniard after the game.
Nadal and Djokovic will meet on Tuesday for the 10th time at Roland Garros and the 59th in their careers.with a favorable balance for the Majorcan 30-28 and 7-2 in Paris, although the Serbian already defeated him in the quarterfinals of 2015 and in the semifinals of last year, an edition that he would later win against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“We know each other very well, we have a lot of history in common. He arrives after winning in Rome and I did not have the best preparation, but I will try to give my best and fight until the end, as always”.
Djokovic enters this match without losing a single set and after having clearly beaten Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman (N.16) 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 this Sunday in just two hours and a quarter of a match.