By Cheryl Jones
Yesterday’s wind and rain played havoc with matches at Roland Garros. But, for all those who believe that there is a silver lining behind every cloud, today should be known as the Silver Lining Day. The scheduled play on all courts had to be changed to accommodate the many postponed matches from Tuesday. Wednesday’s a veritable five-star tennis smorgasbord with virtually something for everyone.
Court Philippe Chatrier opened with a match between two Spanish players. Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal. To no one’s surprise, Nadal came out on top after his countryman had to retire due to an abdominal muscle strain early in the second set, (6-2, 5-2, Retired). It was an unexpected setback for Carreno Busta who said, “I felt pain when I (was) serving. And I tried to continue, but I preferred to stop, because it was – I felt the pain all the time. And I don’t know if the muscle is broken, but I prefer to stop for no broken.” It was a wise move on his part.
Rafa spoke after the match about a similar injury he dealt with at the 2009 US Open, “I played during the whole event with this. And I started with a strain – 7 millimeters on the abdominal, and I finished it with 27 or 28. So was stupid for my part, but I played event, no? But, I think is much better what he did, and that’s probably the best way to keep going without wait for a lot of weeks.”
Sharing that bit of history, Rafa continued, almost in the same breath, “I am in semifinals. That’s all. I am in semifinals and with a very positive feelings. I played well all the matches here.” This win today will give him a 25th Grand Slam semifinal and he will move one step closer to a tie with Andre Agassi who has twenty-six. (Roger Federer has forty-one, and he looks good to stay in the lead. Novak Djokovic and Jimmy Connors are tied at 31.)
Speaking of Djokovic, he had an opportunity to ooze ahead of Connors with a win today, but with a stunning loss to Dominic Thiem 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the first match of the day on Court Suzanne Lenglen he remains at 31. Thiem, who lost to Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States in the Junior Boys final in 2011 is from Austria and is presently ranked 7 in the world. He played smart all match. Since Shanghai in 2014, this was the sixth time the two had stood across the net from each other. Djokovic had won every match up to today, most recently in the Rome 1000 in late May. It wasn’t even a squeaker; it was a rout. Djokovic took all the marbles, 6-1, 6-0 there. Today wasn’t revenge. The simple fact was that Thiem played better.
After the match, Djokovic tried to comment on that abysmal third set, “All in all, it was decided I think in the first set. You know, I tried. I lost that crucial break in the beginning of the second, and he started serving better, you know, backing it up with the first shot. He deserved to win. He was definitely the better player on the court today.”
Last year, the Serbian was on top of the world having won his own version of a “Serena Slam”. (That’s loosely defined as winning four consecutive slams, but in two different years. Those wins were 2015 Wimbledon, the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Australian Open, and 2016 Roland Garros.) He said, “I mean it’s unfortunate to finish Roland Garros the way I have done today. You know, I obviously always expect a lot from myself, but it’s a fact that I’m not playing close to my best, and I know that. Again, I’m trying, as everyone else, to work on the game, and you know, work on things. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t.”
He has spent the last several months wondering just how to turn his game back into the one that put him on top of the rankings in days gone by. He just turned thirty years old and he has been grappling with issues that may or may not be tennis related. He wound down his press conference saying, “Well, as I said, the next chapter for me. So now I’m just figuring it all out and obviously there are things to think about and to work on, and we’ll see where it takes me.” Those are stellar thoughts for the man who was bidding to record his 234th Grand Slam match win today. He didn’t make it and will remain tied with Jimmy Connors at 233. (Everyone still in competition who’s on that list will have a difficult time catching up to Roger Federer who has recorded 314 match wins in Grand Slams.)
Next up will be the semifinal matches. It will be the experienced Nadal versus the younger, Thiem, who at 23 years of age has impressed everyone, including me since he began his professional career in 2011. It should be a match worth watching. Still, I have my imaginary money on Rafael Nadal who is looking as good as ever, to make real history when he takes a bite out of the Coupe de Mousquetaires after the final ball is struck at Roland Garros.
There will be another man waiting across the court from the victor of that semifinal. Today’s smorgasbord had another couple of choice matches. The other Swiss champion, Stan Wawrinka vanquished Croatian, Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in a rapid 1 hour and 40 minutes. It means that Wawrinka will reach his third straight Roland Garros semifinal. He is the oldest man to reach that level here in Paris since Jimmy Connors did it in 1985. (For those interested in the minutia of tennis facts, he is 32 years, 75 days old today and Connors was 32 years, 280 days old when he played in the last four.) He will face world number one, Andy Murray in that other semifinal on Friday. Murray managed to squeak out a win over Kei Nishikori of Japan, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-1, who by the way is the highest ranked Japanese man ever. He has come into Roland Garros at number nine. The match was just a bit under an hour longer than the Wawrinka/Cilic competition.
Predictions aside, there will be some top-notch tennis on the docket on Friday. The winners of those two matches will each bring their best to Sunday’s final and the world of tennis will know if Rafael Nadal can take a tenth bite out of that famous trophy, or will it be Murray, Thiem or Wawrinka?
