Rafael Nadal’s French Open love affair continues despite fears for his future

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.

He did not merely raise his level in relation to the all-time great before him, but his level was stratospheric from the beginning. He came out the gates bullying Djokovic in the early exchanges, uncoiling his forehand down-the-line at will, and even though Nadal had also started quickly in their previous two matches in Paris, even with the data Djokovic has compiled over their 58 prior matches, he was initially unprepared to match it. How Nadal ended the match was equally impressive, with the prospect of a fifth set looming as Djokovic led 5-3 and then created two set points on his serve, he again raised his level exactly when needed.

Beyond another superlative display from Nadal, the most notable aspect of his new French Open