Pitted against each other for the 59th time, a record in tennis head-to-head meetings, the two decorated champions were forced to slug it out at the quarter-final stages.
Going into the match, Novak Djokovic was heavily favoured after winning the Italian Open Masters 1000, his first title of a turbulent year for the unvaccinated Serb.
In contrast, Nadal for the first time in his career as a French Open winner, went into the tournament without a clay-court title win.
All due to the rib injury he sustained at Indian Wells, after potentially overdoing his schedule.
Building form and fitness at the Madrid and Italian Open’s was therefore a slow and realistic target for the Spaniard.
Therefore, expectations for the 21-time Grand Slam champion were slow going into this encounter, with arguably his biggest rival.
Yet, you couldn’t write the script.
Nadal, at 35 years of age, same age as his opponent, produced some sublime tennis to blow Djokovic off the court.
How Nadal put Djokovic to the sword
With Djokovic being the overwhelming favourite, and Nadal still feeling his way back from injury, it feels like the Mallorcan used this psychology to his advantage.
He was able to play freely without pressure.
Almost relishing the underdog tag which perhaps set him free to play his best tennis.
Another additional motivation must have come in last year’s French Open semi-final defeat to the Serb.
A huge disappointment for Nadal which no doubt spurred him on massively last night.
And he came out all guns blazing to win the opening set 6-2 in some style.
In the second, el Matador as he is known in Spain, zoomed into a 3-0 lead before conceding this with a few sloppy games.
Djokovic let out a wide grin and roared back to take the set 6-4 and bring the match to life.
Nadal seemed galvanised by this and kept launching winners to move into a 4-1 lead.
Eventually he took the decisive third set 6-2, same as the first.
Djokovic looked like he would take the match into a fifth as he built up a 5-2 advantage.
However, Nadal as he always does, never gives up.
He fought back to LEVEL the fourth set before triumphing in the tie-breaker to seal a very famous victory.
And the smile and joy after converting match-point showed how much it meant to him.
Date with Destiny?
With Alexander Zverev up next in the semi-finals, will this momentous win prove the launchpad to a 14th French Open title?
He’s two wins away.
Potentially, he has the energy in his legs to do it, but most importantly, his head and heart want this more than ever.
It will be interesting to see if the history maker continues to shape the future.
