As expected since the draw, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will meet on Tuesday in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros.
A prestigious poster, of course, between the man with 13 Porte d'Auteuil victories and the world number 1 and defending champion.
Will it be broadcast in the afternoon on France Television, for free, or in the evening on Amazon Prime Video?
The choice of new director Amélie Mauresmo, announced on Monday, is eagerly awaited.
The clash between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is only scheduled for Tuesday, but we will know on Monday which of the two will have taken the advantage over the other.
Because the confrontation between the two monsters, the one everyone has been waiting for since the draw for this Roland-Garros, is the subject of a big fight behind the scenes.
At stake, the programming time of this quarter-final.
During the day or in the evening?
Free or paid?
Sacred suspense for THE big poster of the tournament, which the interested parties intend to approach in the conditions that suit them best.
And that the broadcasters are tearing themselves apart, of course.
The boss prefers the afternoon...
It is a battle that is played out on several levels.
Let's start with the players.
Rafael Nadal has never hidden it, he hates nights at Roland.
The colder conditions change the characteristics of the clay court and make his ball a (tiny) bit less difficult to return.
And it is not because he strolled Wednesday evening against Corentin Moutet that he changed his mind.
“I don't like night sessions, I've said that before.
I don't like playing on clay at night.
There is higher humidity.
The ball is slower and the conditions can be very heavy when it's cold.
It makes a big difference to play tennis day or night on clay,” the Spaniard explained on Friday after his third-round win over Van De Zandschulp.
… holding it in the evening
Inevitably, when the man statued during his lifetime to Roland gives his opinion, it is difficult to turn his head to the other side and act as if we had not heard.
But the record holder of Porte d'Auteuil victories is not the only one to have gone to file his complaint with the organizers' office.
His opponent, already, would surely not be unhappy if the match was scheduled for the evening.
“All I can say is that Rafa and I would make different requests,” the Serb said at the weekend at the microphone of France TV, with a smirk.
Like us – and certainly better, even if we sometimes rewatch the highlights in moments of depression – he remembers perfectly the magical semi-final last year, when he ended up sending the owner of the places at the end of the night.
A clash of rare intensity, brutal, that the world number 1 had entered directly into the top 3 of his best career matches.
He knows well that the night conditions favor him.
And all Djoko that we are, it never hurts to start a match at Roland against Nadal with a slight ascendancy.
But this little game of influence is not much compared to the fiercer fight between the two broadcasters.
On the one hand, France Télévisions, historical partner of the tournament since 1987, intends to be able to offer the blockbuster to its viewers, after having had to give up Nadal-Moutet and in the third round of one of the last Frenchmen in the running, Hugo Gaston, Saturday.
The arguments of the public service are all found: the loyalty bonus and, above all, free.
Except that Amazon has not put 15 million euros a year on the table to see the door slammed in its face when the behemoths clash.
The American platform has just acquired all the night sessions exclusively – in addition to all the matches on the Simonne-Mathieu court – for this kind of moment.
Why else ask people to pay for a subscription?
A tacit agreement wants that it is she who has the first choice, and that in the event of dispute, it is the direction of the tournament which slices, even the Federation.
"an essential marker" of the first year of Mauresmo
“It will be their decision”, merely responds the VOD giant when asked.
It is still hard to imagine him letting himself be done without complaining, arguing for example that the choice could weigh when Amazon decides whether or not to continue its commitment after the 2023 edition. Prime Video has maliciously prepared its coup, in any case , already asking twice for Carlos Alcaraz at night.
Complicated to send the little Spanish prodigy again, the only credible alternative to this poster, to play in the cold until no time from Tuesday…
Sunday evening, in the excitement of the immense 5th set won by Nadal against Auger-Aliassime, Laurent Luyat announced that the quarter-final would take place at 2:30 p.m. – therefore on France TV – before backpedaling.
The answer is good for this Monday, and it is rather Amazon who holds the rope.
This is in any case the first hot file to settle for Amélie Mauresmo.
Former director Guy Forget, consultant this year for Prime Video, had warned when we met him before the start of the tournament:
“Once, Amélie cut us to the schedule for the girls' semi-finals [in 2019].
It's not easy to make these decisions, you have to try to satisfy everyone, but it's not always possible.
There are trade-offs to be made that inevitably displease some people.
»
Coincidence or not – we would rather go for the second option –, the boss of the tournament decided late Sunday evening to postpone until Wednesday a press briefing which was to take place at 10:00 am this Monday morning.
Anyway, she knows she is eagerly awaited on the subject.
“This decision will be an essential marker of [his] first year, do not hesitate to tell Nicolas Mahut to our colleagues from
L'Equipe
.
Roland is the heritage of French sport, just like the Tour du France.
Can you imagine the Alpe d'Huez stage broadcast on a pay channel and therefore inaccessible to the vast majority of viewers?
It's funny, we wouldn't bet our PEL on the fact that it will never happen.
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Roland Garros 2022
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic