All dynasties must come to an end someday, and the dominance of Rafael Nadal at the French Open is no different. Still, the 13-time champion–who just won the Australian Open this January–was a heavy favorite coming into this tournament. No one expected Nadal to lose his fourth-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, but the Spaniard came perilously close to doing just that. He had been dealing with a chronic foot injury, but it didn’t seem to impact him in his first three matches in Paris.
It’s not clear that that’s what was bothering Nadal in his fourth-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday, but the Spaniard was clearly very far from his best at the beginning. Nadal was running down balls and competing as usual, but his shots were nowhere near as crisp or clean as usual. The 13-time champion sprayed errors all over the court and missed even routine balls. No, it did not at all look like vintage Rafael Nadal to start the match.
Rafael Nadal def. Felix Auger-Aliassime 36 63 62 36 63
After a very rough start, Nadal seemed to find his rhythm towards the end of the first set. The Spaniard trailed 5-1, but he managed to break Auger-Aliassime on the Canadian’s first attempt to serve out the set. Huge first serves did it for Auger-Aliassime the second time, but Nadal felt like he was still in the match.
Nadal picked up his game in the second set, and it seemed hard for the Canadian to adjust. The Spaniard began to control the rallies more and was able to close them better. We saw more fist pumps and shouts of “Vamos!” from the 13-time champion, and Auger-Aliassime began to falter. Nadal ran away with the next two sets and seemed poised to advance to his 16th French Open quarterfinal.
But Felix Auger-Aliassime was not done yet.
The Canadian played an absolutely incredible set of tennis, from start to finish, to stay in the match. He even found a way to break Nadal, and incredible serving meant he never gave up that lead. He took the fourth set 63, and set up a deciding set against the greatest ever to play on clay.
In the fifth set, Nadal never wavered or faltered. After over four hours of play, he clearly was somewhat less fresh physically. And, perhaps the foot injury was bothering him somewhat. But he never relented, and played all-out every single point. Twice in the set he opened break points, but Auger-Aliassime managed to save them. The Canadian was not so lucky when Nadal brought out all the weapons on return at 4-3*. Huge groundstokes and incredible passing shots earned Nadal the break, and more of the same held for 63 and the match.
Next up, Nadal will have to face Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal. If the Spaniard plays at the same level as in this match, he won’t win.
But if we’ve learned anything from Rafael Nadal in Paris over the years, it’s that he can always find a way. As he reminded us so clearly in this match, never count the 13-time champion out.
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