A year on, epic Nadal-Djokovic rivalry resumes

Book: Modern-day tennis rivalry for the ages. Contest chapter: 59. Paris subsection: 10.

No two players have faced each other on the men's professional tennis tour as many times as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have. No two players flaunting 20 Grand Slams or more each have battled in a Major ever before.

As frequent as the Djokovic-vs-Nadal tussles have become in this GOAT-level era of tennis, there always tends to be a brush of novelty stroked to them. No different when the two enter the Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday night for the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.

It's their earliest meeting in a Grand Slam since the 2015 French Open where, incidentally, Djokovic beat Nadal—grappling with one of the lowest phases of his career—for the first time in the tournament. The circumstances around their sooner-than-usual meeting this time are different, although their lesser-than-usual game time leading into this Roland Garros has been the binding factor.

Djokovic touched down in Paris after playing just five tournaments this season, his vaccination status keeping him out of the Australian Open and Indians Wells and Miami. It meant the world No. 1, riding on a three-Slam winning 2021 that included a record-levelling 20th, competed in a single tournament in Dubai for the first three months of this year. The Serb returned for the European clay swing in Monte Carlo and lost his first match to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Djokovic gradually picked up his rhythm, making a home final in Belgrade (losing to Andrey Rublev) and the semi-final in Madrid (losing to Carlos Alcaraz) before winning his first title of 2022 in Rome this month.

Nadal, meanwhile, needed all of 10 days at the beginning of the year to pick up his first 2022 title in Melbourne. Returning from a foot injury, the Spaniard then went on a relentless run at the Australian Open and, with Djokovic deported and away, collected Grand Slam No. 21. He backed it up with another title in Acapulco and a final at Indian Wells in a 21-match win streak. A rib injury halted him there for a couple of months. Nadal was back in Madrid where there was no stopping Alcaraz, and also lost his second-round Rome encounter to Denis Shapovalov during which, more worryingly for him, the foot injury flared up.

Nadal entered the French Open dropping a spot to No. 5 in the rankings, tasting no success on clay and having lost all the momentum from the season's first four tournaments. Djokovic, on the other hand, revved up his pace after a slow start. It is reflected in their four matches in Paris. Djokovic has been solid, cruising through without dropping a set. Nadal surrendered two of them in his fourth-round match against Felix Auger Aliassime but came up with some of his grittiest fighting qualities to bag the fifth set 6-3. That set would have also calmed concerns around his foot issue, for the Spaniard was seemingly moving as well as he did in the first three months.

"I didn't play these kinds of matches for the past three months, so (playing Djokovic) is going to be a big challenge for me," Nadal said. "Of course. he already won I think (his) past nine matches in a row, winning in Rome and now winning here in straight sets every match. Probably he will be confident."

More reasons to feel confident for Djokovic? They'll play at night.

The organisers on Monday scheduled the marquee quarter-final for the night session, a slot Djokovic hinted he would prefer whereas Nadal publicly stated his disapproval. Nadal enjoys the sun, the spin and the bounce of the ball on the Paris red dirt, which could get nullified at night as the temperatures drop and the conditions get heavier. "I think that makes a big difference between the way tennis is played on clay during the night and during the day," Nadal said. Djokovic will not mind that more so given his experience from last year. By the time Djokovic completed a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Nadal in the semi-final, it had been well past 11 pm local time.

Those were the days it appeared a mere formality that Djokovic would cross the 20-Slam mark first among the Big Three. It is Nadal instead who surged ahead. The race finds another pitstop on Tuesday. The road ahead? Alcaraz, the season's red-hot player, possibly awaiting in the semi-final.