Don’t call 13 unlucky for Nadal, still perfect in Roland Garros semis

Tennis matches are decided at the end—but often, determined at the beginning. Such was the case today in the semifinals of Roland Garros, when Rafael Nadal took just over three hours to earn a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over Diego Schwartzman.

For Nadal, the final four of Roland Garros was familiar territory, the 13th time he’d gone this far in Paris, all without ever losing. For Schwartzman, a Grand Slam semifinal was a brave new world. But unlike the novel that bears that name—a dystopian tale of future life—Schwartzman brings nothing but optimism. It’s hard to imagine this man ever coming off as world-weary.

“From me, is the best part to play with these guys,” Schwartzman said just after losing, reflecting on the chance to compete against tennis’ ruling trio of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. “I'm enjoying a lot because at this time I can play against these three guys in different tournaments, so I'm enjoying a lot to see these guys on tour and playing against them.”

Nadal has long admired Schwartzman and also had the memory of their most recent match in mind: a quarterfinal in Rome just prior to Roland Garros that the Argentine won.

Said Nadal today, “To win against Diego, you have to work a lot and you have to play well for such a long time.”

Getty Images

The first three games of this match took 25 minutes, consisting of physical, long baseline rallies. Amid brisk autumn conditions and the shadow that fell across Court Philippe Chatrier, many were even more demanding than those that occur when Roland Garros is played during its usual spring calendar date.

Nadal served the opening game, faced two break points and at last held after 14 minutes. Rapidly, he broke Schwartzman to serve at 2-0.

Then came another major early plot point. Schwartzman broke Nadal and was back on serve at 1-2.

If persistence is Schwartzman’s mandatory attribute, baked into his operating system, the Argentine’s companion asset—the app if you will—is what he can do with his racquet. And given the way tennis is played today, it’s vastly inaccurate to call Schwartzman a defensive player. Taking the ball early, with compact swings, superb foot speed, exemplary footwork and first-rate shot selection, Schwartzman strikes the ball with power and accuracy. As David Ferrer was for many years, Schwartzman has emerged as the people’s choice, a warrior of the first order who throws his heart into every match he plays.

So from the start and even when down an early break, in those first 25 minutes, Schwartzman had both hung on with his fingers and also kept climbing.

All he had to do next was stare at the mountain. How better to describe Nadal? Take every one of the warrior-like qualities shown by players like Ferrer and Schwartzman. Add a bigger body, greater speed, more power and the challenge is painfully vivid; emphasis on pain.

“After that,” said Schwartzman, “you maybe have the ideas, okay, we are going to play many hours today.”

In less than 30 minutes—if not decided, heavily determined.

Immediately, Nadal broke Schwartzman to go up 3-1 in the first set. Nursing his lead, Nadal served at 5-3. After netting a forehand on his first set point at 40-30, at deuce, Nadal cracked open a 23-shot rally with a crosscourt backhand winner. And though he’d lose the next point, at deuce a deft forehand drop shot carried him to a third set point, cashed in when Schwartzman netted a backhand.

Much of the second and third sets went the same way. Schwartzman repeatedly stretched the court, pushed Nadal into corners and never let up in the tenacity department. Serving in the second set at 2-4, 0-40, Schwartzman again scraped back to hold and cling. Were you in Schwartzman’s corner, you’d think he was always in this match.

But in the bigger picture, Nadal held the hammer. Here now, a case for what gives tennis’ super-geniuses that slight edge over their highly skilled peers: the ability to wrinkle the pattern of a match just enough when it matters most. That was Nadal had done when closing out the first set. In the second, serving at 3-2, 0-30, redirected the course of the game with a charge to the net, untouchable forehand that skidded off the baseline and a drop shot. But these moments do more than win single points. They jar an opponent, put them off-balance, not just for that one moment, but perhaps through other parts of the match. If sometimes the weapon is familiarity, other times it’s doubt, all adding up to a major challenge.

“Well, it's different playing against Djokovic, Federer, Rafa, these guys,” said Schwartzman. “Is not easy playing them five sets because you have to play your best tennis maybe for three, four hours, five hours. It's not easy. It's not easy. Physically it's very hard. Mentally it's very hard.”

The third set took a tilt. Nadal served at 4-2, 30-love. At 30-15, following his serve in, Nadal netted a makeable backhand volley and went on to lose that game.

Schwartzman’s fingers were quite strong, to the point where, at 5-all, he held a 15-40 lead on Nadal’s serve. Here again, what champions do. Nadal, for several games prior generating far less depth and pace, on those two pivotal points cracked a forehand winner up the line and another massive crosscourt forehand. And when Schwartzman earned another ad, Nadal replied with serve-and-volley tennis, proficiently striking a forehand and backhand volley to get back to the deuce and in time take the game.

“At that time when I was playing better than him and finding the way maybe to go to the fourth, he did two winners and then one serve and volley,” Schwartzman said. “You didn't expect. You expect to play every point, clay points, in that moment.”

Getty Images

Still, Schwartzman pushed it into a tiebreaker. An interesting contrast between the greats: Novak Djokovic’s philosophy at this stage focuses on defense and not making any errors. For Nadal, offense is the objective, the Spaniard aware of his occasional penchant for passivity.

“I needed to be a little bit more aggressive—a little bit—at the half of the third set when I had the score in my favor,” said Nadal. “I lost couple of opportunities there to close the match before and to not suffer like I suffered at the end.”

On the first point of the tiebreaker, though, Schwartzman took charge, making his way to net. Nadal threw up an excellent lob, which Schwartzman was unable to put away, giving Nadal the chance to line a crosscourt backhand passing shot winner.

Schwartzman served at 0-1. Nadal came to net. Schwartzman rifled a backhand down-the-line passing shot, which Nadal fielded in a crisp way straight from the Martina Navratilova playbook. Schwartzman tried to pass crosscourt, but Nadal was there to thump a forehand volley winner. Now down 0-2, Schwartzman was bludgeoned by a hard Nadal crosscourt backhand.

If the first three games of the match had determined what was to come, the first three points of the tiebreaker decided how it would end. Given a 3-0 lead on his serve, Nadal hunkered down and won the next four points, the last a weary Schwartzman backhand into the net.

“Is important to go through all the process,” said Nadal. “You have to suffer. You can't pretend to be in a final of Roland Garros without suffering. That's what happened there.”

Nadal so respects the mountain that he wouldn’t dare treat it any other way.