Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman will attempt to cause two major upsets when they face Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in Friday’s French Open semi-finals.
Last year at the US Open, Diego Schwartzman likened Rafael Nadal to a lion in the jungle. “He’s big, he’s a fighter, he knows how to play the important moments every single time,” he said. “I played him eight times and every time he played the important moments better than me.”
Schwartzman is a little guy with a big heart trying to join one of the world’s smallest clubs. Experts say that lions can smell blood from up to a mile away — perhaps that’s why Nadal has never lost a semi-final match on the red clay in Paris, and the ‘I’ve Beaten Nadal at Roland Garros Club’ has just two members: Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling.
The stakes for what promises to be a cracking semi-final match in Paris Friday are clear — the Spanish brawler is close enough to his record tying 20th major to taste it, but the fearless Argentine has a chance to score a potentially life-changing win while etching his name in the history books with what would be one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.
Can he do it? Going against Nadal at Roland Garros is a poor man’s endeavour, but then again, what were the chances of a 5’7” player, whose mother had to sell jewellery at tournaments to finance their travel, making it this far? Soderling, the retired Swede who famously overcame Nadal at this event in 2009, recently remarked that getting crushed 6-0, 6-1 by the Spaniard in Rome just weeks before that match helped him pull off the upset.
Schwartzman, by contrast, notched his first victory in 10 attempts over Nadal a few weeks ago in Rome. A reporter suggested after Schwartzman’s epic five-set quarter-final win against Dominic Thiem that perhaps he would have more confidence facing Nadal after this win.
“Well, I’m not sure because if I see the history, I’m 10-1 down,” he said, slightly overstating his 1-9 ATP Head2Head record against the sculpted Spaniard. “But yeah, I know this week that I can beat him… I was perfect today. I think after two days I’m going to be perfect in [the] semi-final.”
Schwartzman’s challenge will be to try to turn the street fight Nadal craves into the kind of chess match where he stands a chance. But while his recent win in Rome might give him confidence, let’s not forget that it also gives Nadal — a player known for being charitable off the court but never on it — a little extra motivation, not that he needs it.
If Gordon Ramsay applied for a line cook job at McDonald’s, his CV still wouldn’t look half as impressive as the Mallorcan gladiator’s semi-final resume at Roland Garros, where he’s never lost from the semi-final stage. If the tournament built a graveyard for his semi-final victims, the tombstones would read like a display from the International Tennis Hall of Fame: Roger Federer (twice) Djokovic (three times), Andy Murray (twice), David Ferrer, Thiem, and Juan Martin del Potro.
That collection of legends has taken a grand total of three sets — all won by Federer and Djokovic — across 12 matches. This year marks the 11th time Nadal has steamrolled his way to the semi-finals without dropping a set.
So if Nadal has slowly sucked the life out of that esteemed group like a python strangling its prey, what chance does Diego Schwartzman have of avoiding the Nadal graveyard? The 28-year-old Buenos Aires native has a few things going for him. Start with the fact that he’s 20-9 this year, including 15-3 on clay, where he’s produced some of the best tennis of his career.
Schwartzman will also be facing Nadal on another cool, damp day and Rafa has been quite candid in admitting that he dislikes the cold, heavy conditions. “The problem is the weather,” Nadal said after completing his quarter-final win at 1:25 a.m. on Wednesday morning. “It’s too cold to play tennis. It’s very, very cold, no? I think [it] is [a] little bit dangerous for the body, playing with these very heavy conditions.”
In hot, dry conditions, Nadal’s ball jumps up higher, particularly on clay, which would be especially hard for a shorter player like Schwartzman. So it’s easy to see why Rafa’s not thrilled with the dreary weather.
The pair has squared off just once at Roland Garros, in the 2018 quarter-finals — and it was a grueling three-hour, 42 minute, four-set win for Nadal that was anything but routine. Schwartzman approached the net a surprising 71 times against Thiem, winning 62% of those points, and he frequently made effective use of the drop shot — clearly the en vogue shot of the tournament — so expect more of the same against Nadal, who could become the third-oldest finalist in tournament history with a victory.
Harold Solomon, a standout player from the 70s and 80s who stood just 5’6”, believes that Schwartzman’s size isn’t necessarily a disadvantage for him in the matchup.
“If a big player with a huge serve is serving well, it makes it difficult for the smaller player. But the smaller player can make up for it,” said Solomon, who made it to the final of Roland Garros in 1976. “Diego is gifted in a lot of different ways. He’s exceptionally fast and he has exceptionally great anticipation. As I watch him play, he gets in and out of the corners so well. Maybe surprisingly to bigger guys, he’s not looking to hang 10 feet behind the baseline, but he’s looking to move up into the court to put pressure.”
Both men have had two days off, but Nadal should be fresher considering the fact that he skipped the US Open and has spent just over 10 hours on court compared to more than 13 hours — 16 if you include his two doubles matches — for Schwartzman. Nadal has sailed through the draw without dropping a set, while Schwartzman may be wearier but also more battle tested, having survived the five-hour, eight-minute duel against Thiem.
Schwartzman’s the underdog, but he clearly has a chance to make it out of the jungle alive, so make sure to clear your calendar for the day because it promises to be a riveting war of attrition, rather than a quick and dirty beating for either man.
Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin and Polish teenager Iga Swiatek will play in Saturday’s French Open women’s final after two dominant semi-final displays.
Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares reached their second straight Grand Slam final on Thursday, following a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah at Roland Garros.
The seventh seeds notched their 10th straight victory at a major championship after one hour and 44 minutes, recovering from 2-4 in the second set to overcome the top seeds. Pavic and Soares are chasing their second major championship title as a team, following their maiden triumph at the level at last month’s US Open.
Pavic and Soares are through to their fourth final (2-1) as a pairing. The Croatian-Brazilian team joined forces at the Fever-Tree Championships in June 2019 and claimed its first tournament victory at last year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters (d. Kubot/Melo). Pavic and Soares also reached the 2019 Stockholm Open final (l. to Kontinen/Roger-Vasselin).
The reigning US Open titlists will face defending champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies in the final. Krawietz and Mies returned to the championship match in Paris with a 6-3, 7-5 victory against ninth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.
The German pair converted both break points it created to improve to 11-0 at the clay-court Grand Slam. Krawietz and Mies are one win away from becoming the first team to win back-to-back Roland Garros men’s doubles titles since Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in 2012.
Pavic and Soares enter the final with a 1-0 ATP Head2Head record against Krawietz and Mies. The two teams met in the first round at last year’s Western & Southern Open, with Pavic and Soares claiming a 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-7 victory.
Briton Andy Lapthorne secures his place in the French Open men’s quad final and Alfie Hewett reaches the men’s wheelchair final.
Pablo Carreno Busta questions Novak Djokovic’s physical struggles early on during their French Open quarter-final on Wednesday.
Diego Schwartzman will try to earn a career-defining win on Friday in the Roland Garros semi-finals against 12-time champion Rafael Nadal. If there’s anyone who knows what it’s like to step on the court in the 5’7” right-hander’s shoes, it’s 5’6″ Harold Solomon, the former World No. 5.
“I’m very intrigued watching him and I’m always impressed. I root for him all the time,” Solomon told ATPTour.com. “He can say what he wants about being a little guy, but it’s not easy being a little guy in a big guy’s world.”
Whenever Schwartzman is asked about his height, he points out that he’s had worse issues to deal with in his life than being a few inches shorter than other players. Solomon, a 22-time tour-level titlist, explained how the Argentine is able to overcome his size on court.
“If a big player with a huge serve is serving well, it makes it difficult for the smaller player. But the smaller player can make up for it,” Solomon said. “Diego is gifted in a lot of different ways. He’s exceptionally fast and he has exceptionally great anticipation. As I watch him play, he gets in and out of the corners so well. Maybe surprisingly to bigger guys, he’s not looking to hang 10 feet behind the baseline, but he’s looking to move up into the court to put pressure.”
Many times when players blast a ball to try to drive through Schwartzman, he returns the ball with interest.
“I think guys are making mistakes by giving him as much pace as they give him. I think that the sense is they think they can go in there and overwhelm him and knock him off the court, but the higher the ball is on a short guy, if you’re playing a really high, heavy ball that doesn’t have as much pace, I think it’s really hard,” Solomon said. “You have to do so much more work to generate pace off a ball that doesn’t have any pace. But I think these guys give Diego more pace, which is good for him, actually.”
Harold Solomon beats Guillermo Vilas at 1980 Roland Garros. Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
Solomon, who made the 1976 Roland Garros final, said that one of the best ways to play a shorter opponent is to drive them back with heavy topspin and then use that space to open up the court or draw them into the net.
“I’d much rather have Diego at the net than have him at the back, so how do you figure out a way to make him have to come into the net?” Solomon wondered. “When you’re that small, even though he’s fast, you’re susceptible to passing shots, so bringing him into the net on your terms is a great thing.”
Schwartzman faced a tough test in the Roland Garros quarter-finals against third seed Dominic Thiem, the recent US Open champion who reached the Paris final the past two years. When the Austrian is firing, he is one of the biggest hitters on the ATP Tour. Solomon noted that Schwartzman was the aggressor in their five-setters, while Thiem was content to remain neutral and hit a lot of backhand slices.
“Diego was taking the ball early, moving into the court and controlling the court, controlling the points. One of the things he does really well is when people try to use angles to pull him off the court, he’s able to cut off the angles, which stops him from being jerked around the court as much as he possibly could be,” Solomon said. “His speed is exceptional, his anticipation is exceptional, his ability to step in and take balls early is exceptional and we know he’s a great fighter.”
That heart helped Schwartzman earn one of the biggest victories of his career in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarter-finals against Nadal. The Argentine had lost his first nine ATP Head2Head meetings against the legendary lefty, but he played aggressive tennis to eliminate the World No. 2 6-2, 7-5.
“Rafa’s balls were landing short, which they do at times anyway, but normally they have enough stuff on them that they’re hard for people to attack. A lot of his balls were landing at the service line or just past the service line and when he was hitting his backhand, he would hit his normal backhand and it just doesn’t jump like his forehand,” Solomon said. “Diego was able to take the ball early and it was a good battle for him. He almost played his ball the way Djokovic plays Rafa’s ball.
“Djokovic has been successful against Rafa when he’s able to take the ball early and not let it get way up high on him with his two-hander, where he can’t do too much with it. You would think Rafa would be able to take his forehand and really get it to jump up high into the backhand of Diego and then be able to open up the court with the next shot.”
Solomon was highly complimentary of Schwartzman’s win against Nadal at the Foro Italico, and he believes the conditions are largely similar to those in Paris, where it has been cold and wet for much of the fortnight. That has prevented players like Nadal from getting their topspin shots to bounce as violently off the court as usual, which may play a role in their semi-final.
“You would think it would be a matter of time from an attrition point of view that Rafa would be able to physically and mentally dominate that match three out of five sets,” Solomon said. “But Diego plays amazing tennis and you never know.”
Schwartzman will crack the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time next Monday, an accomplishment that impresses Solomon. The American, who beat Guillermo Vilas three times at Roland Garros, admitted he believes Schwartzman’s “athletic ability is far greater than mine was”.
“It’s amazing every time he goes out there, wins matches and defeats these guys,” Solomon said. “He’s got a big fan in me.”
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