What happened when Nadal didn't finish Djokovic off at Wimbledon 2018 when he had the chance

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
Novak refused to roof to be reopen because it suited him more ( without the wind), it was payback to Rafa for one of the previous Roland Gross meetings . Late in that match Novak asked why the court isn't watered as usual, the empire responded that Rafa said the court is ok and isn't slippery for him on dry clay and the empire said it cant be watered without approval of both players.
1. He was being sarcastic.

2. The courts aren’t watered during the match/between sets. The majority of court maintenance happens before and after the match. The only thing that’ll happen between sets is the court is raked and the lines are swept.
 

Martin J

Hall of Fame
1. He was being sarcastic.

2. The courts aren’t watered during the match/between sets. The majority of court maintenance happens before and after the match. The only thing that’ll happen between sets is the court is raked and the lines are swept.
I believe it depends on the conditions of the surface or the elements? Have seen them watering the courts plenty of times in a hot day during the changeovers. Or I misunderstood your comment.
 

Genie Of the Bank

Hall of Fame
Turf war as usual between them two.

p46110_p_v8_ac.jpg
 

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
I believe it depends on the conditions of the surface or the elements? Have seen them watering the courts plenty of times in a hot day during the changeovers. Or I misunderstood your comment.
Here’s an article about the actual preparation of the RG courts: https://www.si.com/tennis/2014/05/21/how-roland-garros-prepares-clay-courts-french-open#:~:text=During each match, crews rake,court gets watered once again.

Very rarely will they ever water the courts during the match, and even then it’s up to the tournament supervisor on the condition of the court.

“During each match, crews rake the surface and sweep clay off of the lines at the end of each set. At the end of every match, the crew waters the entire court to help the brick retain its color and keep from blowing away. And at the end of the day, each court gets watered once again”.

What I’m getting at is that it’s not part of the usual procedure to do between each set.
 

nolefam_2024

Talk Tennis Guru
I believe it depends on the conditions of the surface or the elements? Have seen them watering the courts plenty of times in a hot day during the changeovers. Or I misunderstood your comment.
It was at 7 all I believe. Usual sets don't have 14 games in them. The dry courts are also slower which helped Nadal more than Djokovic. If the umpire didn't listen to Nadal, he would have done it.
 

Genie Of the Bank

Hall of Fame
I believe it depends on the conditions of the surface or the elements? Have seen them watering the courts plenty of times in a hot day during the changeovers. Or I misunderstood your comment.
True they watered the court often when is super hot between the sets. Simple it was hot Novak started to slip on dry clay in the fifth set, Nadal saw that and refused the watering its his right in the rules, the same with Novak and the roof in Wimbledon.
 

Martin J

Hall of Fame
True they watered the court often when is super hot between the sets. Simple it was hot Novak started to slip on dry clay in the fifth set, Nadal saw that and refused the watering its his right in the rules, the same with Novak and the roof in Wimbledon.
Yeah there was nothing really controversial in either cases, some fans are having rage attacks for no reason.
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Nadal fans still believe the roof had anything to do with this result although it's the best match he played at Wimbledon in the last 10 or 12 years. What had something to do with the result is them stopping play after the 3rd set. That helped Djokovic imo because his stamina and physicality wasn't back to top notch. I think he was getting tired and that gave him time to regroup. Then again, it maybe helped Nadal as well because Djokovic had all the momentum.
 

Jonesy

Legend
Nadal was getting cheeky with the drop shots by the end of the third set (who did he think he was? Carlos Alcaraz?), by all means Djokovic wanted the match to continue right after that, Nadal got a big chance to regroup with the curfew.
 

Neptune

Hall of Fame
Fans of the party darlings complaining about the party crasher's advantages – what an ironic scene. :-D
 

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
I believe it depends on the conditions of the surface or the elements? Have seen them watering the courts plenty of times in a hot day during the changeovers. Or I misunderstood your comment.
True they watered the court often when is super hot between the sets. Simple it was hot Novak started to slip on dry clay in the fifth set, Nadal saw that and refused the watering its his right in the rules, the same with Novak and the roof in Wimbledon.
Both of you are correct. The court got watered twice in this match: after the 2nd set and after the 4th set. It was hot and dry that day, so it is common for them to do it when it's hot and sunny. Djokovic felt when it got to 7-6 or 7 all, it was time to water it again because after the length of the set, it was getting slippery. Pascal Maria asked Nadal and Nadal said he didn't want it watered so since both guys didn't agree, that was that. So yea @Genie Of the Bank , Wimbledon 2018 was Djokovic's payback to Nadal. Neither decision probably had anything to do with the result but they both stuck it to other at those times because they could, and it was every man for himself.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
One of their least important matches historically. Didnt change anything really as nadal won many more majors afterwards as did djokovic.
Djokovic had not won a major in over 2 years, and had a bizarre meltdown after Cecchinato beat him at the 2018 French Open. Meanwhile, Nadal and Federer had shared the previous 6 majors between them. Nadal let the genie get out of the bottle at 2018 Wimbledon. A massive mistake in terms of the major race.
 
In the slam race it is not relevant - Djokovic should get to 32-34 slams if he is interested.

But it is the only tennis defeat I will never truly get over - the roof scandal was only part of it, so many small things would have made a difference - even going back to Nadal taking 5 sets to beat Del Potro when it should really have been 3/4. I have no probs with 2012 and 2017 defeats - better player won both.

Very bad 2 days. Shame as Nadal played great - Djokovic serve just held up well when it mattered.
 
Djokovic had not won a major in over 2 years, and had a bizarre meltdown after Cecchinato beat him at the 2018 French Open. Meanwhile, Nadal and Federer had shared the previous 6 majors between them. Nadal let the genie get out of the bottle at 2018 Wimbledon. A massive mistake in terms of the major race.
It was a huge match. But even if Djokovic had lost, he would have won 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian too. He was back as a competitor. Maybe then he would have won 2019 French too.

I think Djokovic fans want to ham it up cos it was a tough loss for Nadal fans.
 
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