Djokovic scores his biggest comeback win but faces rival Nadal on clay
Djokovic has had an uneven season on clay, but there have been hopeful signs on the red dirt. He’s worked his way into the Rome Open semifinals, but he also faces his biggest challenge, Rafael Nadal.
The last time rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal met was May 2017, at the Madrid Masters, where the “King of Clay” won his “La Decima” title there and defeated the Serb in two straight sets along the way. Prior to that, Djokovic had won seven victories — three of them on clay, even — all in 2016 and 2015, at the height of Djokovic’s dominance.
A lot’s changed since then. Nadal found a renewed stride last year and he and Roger Federer split the grand slams, as well as several Masters 1000’s, all throughout 2017 in their year of Renaissance, while Nole and the fourth member of the three-plus grand slams club, Andy Murray, ran out of gas and took time off to nurse separate injuries and find the inspiration to bounce back.
The return to competition has been tough on both Djokovic and Murray, with the Brit opting to stay out longer with a serious hip injury that required surgery around the time of the Australian Open. Djokovic, on the other hand, has taken his chances and pushed himself to try and try again, in competition after competition, despite many disappointments since the beginning of the year.
Nadal hasn’t been fully fit either, deciding to skip much of the beginning hard court season after going out in the Australian Open in the quarterfinals. But once clay season popped up on his schedule, of course, the greatest clay court player that ever existed landed on the red dirt as if he never left it, increasing his “La Decima” tally to “Undecima” at Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
After suffering a series of first round defeats at the beginning of the season, Djokovic has been slowly finding his groove on clay, winning his first two matches in Monte Carlo, losing his first match in Barcelona and then beating top player Kei Nishikori in Madrid, even if he went out the next round.
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Now in Rome — a tournament he last won in 2015, and an event he’s won four times — he’s had his best run since coming back, beating Nishikori again after being a set down, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, to make it to the quarters. Nadal also came back from a set down and beat Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Novak Djokovic is seeded 11th and hasn’t had to face the other Big Four since coming back with a lower ranking. That is, until now. Murray is out and Federer is of course enjoying No. 1 without even muddying up his pristine sneakers with the red dirt. But now Djokovic faces the world No. 2 Rafa on his favorite surface.
A win over Rafa here will send the biggest signal that the Serb is back, and back for good.
Winning the tournament for Nadal means he’s back to No. 1 again.
There’s a lot riding on the outcome of this semifinal.
Djokovic currently owns their head-to-head with 26-24 with Djokovic having won 11 out of the last 13 matches. It will be their 51st meeting. But all that happened before the Serb stepped out of the game last year.
“I have to embrace it [facing Nadal]. I have to obviously give everything I’ve got,” Djokovic said after his fourth-round win. “This is what I work for, to get to the latter stages of a major event, and I haven’t had this feeling for quite a while. It’s been a year since I played a semi-final [which was in Eastbourne on the eve of Wimbledon in 2017].”
Regardless of who makes the final on Sunday, the semifinal between these two great rivals is the match of the tournament at the Italian Open, in my opinion. Get your popcorn ready for this one, folks. It should be pretty good.