(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? … But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
—Job 1:10

On May 16, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal faced Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters Series event. It was their third meeting in as many Masters tourneys, and the two young guns looked to be the strongest clay court players in the field leading up to Roland Garros.

Their four-hour, three-set duel stretched into a third-set tiebreaker, with Nadal playing clutch tennis to save three match points near the end.

Despite being outplayed for much of the day and losing more games than the Serb, the Spaniard prevailed 11-9 in the final tiebreaker, thus preserving his chances to pull off the hat trick of winning all three clay court Masters shields for 2009.

Djokovic had played his best and fought his hardest for four hours, but the scoreboard said that he lost the match.

Well, two months have passed, and now we know the truth: They both lost that day.


For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
—Job 3:25


Nadal had appeared set to prove that his perpetually aching knee would not derail his chances of winning the RG a fifth time. After a lackluster spring, Djokovic seemed ready to re-establish himself as a Grand Slam contender.

By all appearances this match indicated how much progress he’d made tactically, while at the same time displaying Nadal’s inimitable heart and will.

In the third round of Roland Garros, a listless, dispirited Djokovic lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

He then squandered an opportunity in his next event out, falling in the final of Halle against Tommy Haas, and hasn’t entered Wimbledon with such a shortage of momentum in three, maybe four years.

But his turnabout is nothing compared to Nadal’s. The day after his match with Djokovic he succumbed to Roger Federer in straight sets. In the fourth round of Roland Garros, he suffered his first-ever defeat in the world’s premiere clay court event.

Due to knee troubles aggravated by the long clay season, Nadal has yet to play since Paris, meaning Wimbledon is without its defending champion.

And since Paris, fans and pundits have spilt much ink and employed many pixilated characters toward reasoning as to why the fortunes of two outstanding young players could change so dramatically.


Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
—Job 38:2


In the case of Djokovic, they have asked why his results could suddenly become so listless, just as he was beginning to regain his swing.

Could he not handle the pressure he had built up for himself? Were his promising early results an aberration masking the fact that he did not a champion’s fortitude?

Between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Djokovic said that this four-hour marathon loss to Nadal “exhausted [him] mentally” and added, “I am still trying to recover.”

That’s what we saw in Paris: Djokovic was only in Paris physically. So developed is his all-around game that this was enough to win two matches, but against the German Kohlschreiber, one of the game’s streakiest, most exquisite ball-strikers, it wasn’t nearly enough.

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