[imagesource: Julian Finney/Getty Images]

With Roger Federer pulling out of the French Open after his third-round victory, choosing instead to prepare for Wimbledon later this month, all eyes turned to Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.

The Serbian won Wednesday’s quarter-final against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, and we now have the match we had been hoping for, albeit in a semi-final, rather than Sunday’s championship match.

That should start around 5:30PM this evening, although that is dependent on what time the other men’s semi-final finishes, with fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on sixth seed Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic, gunning for his 19th Grand Slam title, which would bring him within one of Roger and Rafa’s haul of 20 apiece, won 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5.

The 11PM Paris curfew kicked into place midway through the fourth set, meaning the match finished without spectators courtside. To make up for this, Djokovic let out a few of his characteristically guttural screams.

Exhibit A shows the cuts he suffered after a fall, his displeasure at losing a match point, and then the sweet release of victory:

If that’s not quite enough scream for you, relive that final point from the 3:30 mark below:

After the match, reports CNN, Djokovic said he felt the tension escalating:

“This match had it all: falls, crowd, break,” Djokovic [said].

“It was a lot of intensity. I just felt under tension the entire time and missed some chances to end it in three.

“It was just super, super stressful to constantly be under pressure […] the reaction in the end was just me liberating that tension that was building up for the entire match.”

As things stand, Djokovic leads the head-to-head battle with Nadal, winning 29 times to the Spaniard’s 28, but the latter has proven himself to be the king of clay, with 13 Roland Garros titles to his name.

“It’s not like any other match. Let’s face it, it’s the biggest challenge that you can have playing on clay against Nadal on this court. It doesn’t get bigger than that,” Djokovic said after winning his quarterfinal.

The Serbian’s exploits over the past year or so have dented his popularity, so I’m sure I’m not alone in saying “Vamos, Rafa!”

Keep an eye on that first men’s semi-final, with SuperSport’s coverage starting from 2:40PM, so that you don’t miss the main event following its completion.

[source:cnn]