French Open: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic say quarter-final was ‘too late’

Dates: 22 May-5 June Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
Coverage: Live text and radio commentaries of selected matches across BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic agreed their French Open quarter-final started too late after their four-hour match ended at 01:15 in Paris – 00:15 BST.

Asked if is was too late to be playing, Nadal said: “It is without a doubt. I understand television pays a lot of money but we need to find a balance.”

Djokovic added: “Broadcasters say it’s going to be night match, day match. They give the money. They decide.”

Spanish fifth seed Nadal, going for a record-extending 14th men’s singles title at Roland Garros, won 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4) against Serbia’s Djokovic.

The clay-court Grand Slam introduced night sessions for the 2021 tournament, although they were not fully open to fans because of the coronavirus restrictions in France.

The night matches are shown on Amazon Prime in France and have started at 20:45 local time.

The late sessions, which have separate ticket sales from the day, have also drawn criticism for the lack of women’s matches.

Nadal’s win over Djokovic was the second latest finish in French Open history, falling 11 minutes short of the 2020 quarter-final between the Spaniard and Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

“There are difference of opinions about the night sessions,” said world number one Djokovic.

“I think they are starting too late. But again, TV decides. That’s the world we are living in.”

Despite the late finish and temperatures dropping to about 10C, few fans decided to leave Court Philippe-Chatrier and many of those who stayed were wrapped up in blankets.

Afterwards, 21-time major champion Nadal thanked the near-15,000 crowd for showing their “love”.

He will play third seed Alexander Zverev, who beat Carlos Alcaraz in Tuesday’s day session, in the semi-finals on Friday.

“It has been a very emotional night for me,” said Nadal. “I’m still playing for nights like today.

“But it’s just a quarter-finals match? So I didn’t win anything. I just give myself a chance to be back on court in two days. Playing another semi-finals here in Roland Garros means a lot to me.”

‘I am pouring everything that I have to try to play this tournament’

Nadal had feared his career was over because of a chronic foot problem which restricted him to only one tournament in the final seven months of 2021.

The problem flared up again during the Italian Open and he said the crowd at Roland Garros “have been amazing since the beginning of the tournament” because they probably “know that I’m not going to be here a lot more times”.

He added: “I said in Rome that I am going to have my doctor here with me. Having the doctor here, you can do things that help. It’s not the moment to talk about that. We will talk about that when my tournament finishes.

“I am pouring everything that I have to try to play this tournament with the best conditions possible. Honestly, I don’t know what can happen after but here I think I’m going to be fine.

“I have what I have in the foot. If we are not able to find an improvement or small solution to that then it’s becoming super difficult for me. I am just enjoying every day that I have the chance to be here without thinking much about what can happen in the future.

“Of course, I will keep fighting to find a solution but, for the moment, we haven’t.”

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