Soon after the draws were made it was clear that one of the biggest match of this tournament would have been a tasty Djokovic – Nadal semifinal as Rafa fell in Nole’s half for the delight of Roger Federer (well… eventually that didn’t really matter as the Maestro crashed out in the quarters).
Eventually the Serb and the Spaniard got to the final 4 displaying a solid tennis. Rafa recovered from a not 100% perfect 1st week when he dropped the first set in the openers of the first 2 rounds (something strange for the King of Clay) to then recover and find his best tennis in the last 2 matches.
Nole … well he wasn’t as spotless as he is used to… but is still playing a very solid tennis.
From Nole
“This is the biggest match-up of our Roland Garros 2013 campaign for both me and him.
I guess it’s the small details and few points can decide a winner, and that’s why I need to be very disciplined and focused in order to get emotionally, physically, and mentally ready for that match.” said Djokovic
From Rafa
“This is a semi-final that looks or has the taste of a final,
Djoko-Nadal in a semi-final, in the past this could have been a final, but it isn’t… We are still four players in the race reaching semi-finals, and these are the four best players in these past two weeks.” said the King of Clay.
Our pick
This is really a 50-50% match. Maybe Rafa has something more. He was back to his best tennis against Nishikori in the 4th round (6-4 6-1 6-3) and he played an incredible match against Wawrinka in the quarters (6-2 6-3 6-1).
On the other side Nole wants this title and he wants it badly and that can be the decisive spark. We go for Rafa… but just because we have to pick one.
Head to head
Head to head Rafa leads 19-15 and he has a telling 12-3 record on clay against the Serb, but the record on clay gets to a 3-3 draw during the last 2 years and Nole won the last one in Monte-Carlo (but Rafa won the last one in Paris in last year’s final).
It’s a kind of tricky, but the winner of this semifinal should be the winner of the tournament unless both players annihilate each other in a marathon… the best possible scenario for Tsonga and Ferrer that will try to get the other spot in the final.
Game on!
Last match in Monte-Carlo
