1News sport reporter Guy Heveldt details what it was like to watch two tennis legends compete at the Paris Olympics.
It sounded like there were about ten people in the 15,000-strong crowd who wanted Novak Djokovic to win. And eight of them were in his box.
A red hot day on the baking red hot clay, two tennis titans dressed in red.
A ridiculous 46 Grand Slam titles between the pair, Rafael Nadal with 22, Djokovic 24. But this is a Spaniard so revered in his adopted, neighbouring country, he was treated like a Frenchman going for gold.
After all, he has raised Coupe des Mousqetaires aloft on 14 occasions in this famed arena and even carried the Olympic torch in its last steps of the opening ceremony.
When the crowd weren’t waving in their face whatever object they’d creatively turned into a fan, they were screaming, cheering, applauding, appreciating what they were seeing.
They didn’t see much in the first set, in terms of a contest anyway. 6-1 Djokovic.
The second appeared the same. The Nadal obituaries were being written.
But look on either side of Philippe Chartrier you’ll notice a quote attributed to Napoleon, one which, according to the French Open’s website, Roland Garros made his own.
It reads, “La Victoire appartient au plus opiniatre – Victory belongs to the most tenacious.”
Cue the tenacity that’s won Nadal so many of those 22 titles.
Down 6-1 and then 4-1, he broke serve. The crowd cheered, they hoped.
Down 4-2, he held. The crowd rose, they exalted.
Down 4-3, two break points. First one saved.
Take two. Bedlam. You have rarely seen anything like it. Djokovic peppered his fellow Goliath at the opposing end, just inches away from putting the brakes on the Rafa resurgence. But seemingly with the help of those 14,990 in his corner, Nadal produced one of the all-time recoveries at this setting to break again and level the set. You had to see it to believe. This reporter couldn’t believe he just had.
Queue the French frenzy. Even the media area, a place usually sacrosanct from any support, particularly anything of a fervent nature, forgot the rules for a split second. This was sport at its peak.
Sadly, for those in the majority anyway, that revival was short-lived. Djokovic, as he has so often in his illustrious career, brushed aside the king at his very own palace.
A straight sets win for Djokovic. A straight sets defeat for Nadal.
Then 80% of the crowd left and Kiwis Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun appeared for the women’s doubles.
A more sedate experience, but an enjoyable one.
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