Chris Almeida: So we’ve just been through what, for a long time, felt like a replay of last year’s French Open match between Djokovic and Nadal. That one was also a four setter, also incredibly long, lasting over four hours, also had a lot of long, drag-out knock-down rallies. A lot of very long games. But this time, it seems like Nadal had all the answers. Last year, he was physically fading at the end of the match and this time, despite a bad injury to his foot, he looked great and pulled out a four-set win: 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
Jon Wertheim: This is part of the beauty of the rivalry. It can all be Magic 8 Ball signs. We’re looking to favor Djokovic, he hasn’t lost in 22 straight sets. It was thought he would have a much easier time here. He didn’t have the foot injuries, he was rounding into form, he got a night match. And then we got exactly the opposite of what most people predicted which is: Nadal got off to the fast start.
Now, in 51 of the 59 matches the player who won the first set won the match. Djokovic looked to be the one who was a little confused and a little uncomfortable. And he honestly was lucky to win the set that he did win. Nadal had a double break to start that second set.
