The first four sets, it turned out, were just an elaborate set-up for the fifth. When Del Potro steadied again in the early going, the points lengthened, and the two players began to push and pull each other up and back and side to side, trying to create openings any way they could. The rallies were reminiscent of the ones that Nadal and del Potro played in their classic semifinal at the Rio Olympics in 2016: Each player tried to manuever into position for a forehand, while at the same time doing whatever he could to avoid the other guy’s forehand.
The points soon turned into long, compelling, tactical dances. Sometimes those dances ended with one of them flying through the air. At 1-1 in the fifth set, del Potro dove across the court to stab a winning volley; a minute later, Nadal dove into the front row while trying to track down an overhead.
Nadal went up a break and served at 4-3, but the question remained: How do you beat del Potro when he has stopped missing, and virtually every forehand he touches turns into a winner? Rafa never found the answer in Rio, but he did today, and it was one he may never have used to win a match before: his forehand drop shot. Over the course of a 15-minute service game at 4-3, Nadal went to the forehand drop time and again. He hit the shot perfectly, but it almost wasn’t enough. Del Potro tracked one down and flipped it for a winner, and he earned three break points. But Nadal somehow survived.
At 5-4, he survived again. Del Potro ripped a forehand winner to reach 30-30, but against Nadal, you always have to do it again. This time del Potro couldn’t. On the final point, with the light starting to die, Nadal tried another unusual tactic; he followed his serve into net. Del Potro, trying to chase down Rafa’s volley, slipped and fell, and as the chair umpire called “Game, set match,” he buried his head in the dirt behind the baseline. It was a fitting end. del Potro, a showman whether he wins or loses, almost seemed to revel in the moment of valiant defeat.
“I wanted to stay there all night long,” he said later.
Instead, when Nadal walked to his side of the court, del Potro stood up. After four hours and 47 minutes, there was nothing left for them to do but embrace.
Match Point: