Shortly after Rafael Nadal completed his supreme quarter-final victory against Novak Djokovic, as amazement about his four-plus hour effort hung in the air among the many thousands still present, Marion Bartoli ended their post-match interview with a plea, practically begging Nadal to commit to returning next year. It is fair to say that he did not: “See you in two days, that’s the only thing that I can say,” he said, smiling.
The effort from Nadal into the early hours of Wednesday was supreme. Even beyond the discussion of his physical condition, Nadal had arrived in the quarter-final with some of his worst preparation for such a match in Paris. He had never, in his 17 years of competing here, contested the French Open without reaching a single Masters 1000 final during the clay season that year. For all the resilience of Félix Auger-Aliassime in their five-set fourth round match, in the two sets Nadal lost he struck a combined 28 unforced errors to just 13 winners. By his standards, it was dire.
