Djokovic, the world No 1, said all along he would need time to find his feet on the red dirt, and that prediction has proved as accurate as the inch-perfect groundstrokes that propelled him to a sixth title at the Italian Open, where he ran out a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) winner against Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Greek fourth seed.

With Roland Garros just a week away, and Rafael Nadal nursing the latest flare-up of his chronic foot injury, a journey that began with a shock defeat to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Monte Carlo shows every promise of ending in glory for a third time in Paris. 

That looked an unlikely prospect when Djokovic, struggling with the lingering after-effects of illness, fell off a cliff physically in the third set against Davidovich Fokina, and then faded in similar fashion against Andrey Rublev in the final of the Belgrade Open. But he has improved match by match, trusting the process, as he likes to say, and while the defeat he suffered against Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid was undoubtedly a warning shot across the bows, he will hope that his greater experience over the best-of-five-set format affords him an edge over the Spanish teenager if they cross paths again in the 16th arrondissement.

Much will hinge on whether the Serb can continue to produce tennis of the level he found in Rome, where he did not drop a set as he swept to a record-extending 38th Masters 1000 title. Against Tsitsipas, who led him by two sets to love in last year’s French Open final, Djokovic combined ruthlessness with resilience. When Tsitsipas began in desultory fashion, Djokovic turned the screw, whistling through his service games with trademark efficiency and dominating from the baseline. When the Greek’s game belatedly began to fire, Djokovic battened down the hatches, neutralising his opponent’s serve with his deep, precise returns and biding his time from the back of the court as he recovered a 5-2 deficit before edging the contest on a tiebreak. 

In a season dominated by off-court controversy, it was a timely reminder of the range and adaptability of Djokovic’s game. He will take some stopping now. It remains to be seen how his endurance holds up over five sets, but the 34-year-old is otherwise looking ominously good. Djokovic arrived in Rome needing to reach the semi-finals to secure the No 1 ranking. He leaves not only with a 370th week at the top of the tree, ensuring he will go into Roland Garros as the top seed, but with his confidence restored after three consecutive victories over top-10 players. His semi-final win over Casper Ruud was his 1,000th at tour-level, behind only Nadal (1,051), Ivan Lendl (1,068) Roger Federer (1,251) and Jimmy Connors (1,274) in the open era. We are back in the familiar territory of landmarks and milestones.

Perhaps the surest sign that Djokovic is back, after his refusal to take a Covid vaccine left him almost entirely unable to compete for the first three months of the season, is that there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome. Even when Tsitsipas led, you somehow knew the Serb would find a way. As Djokovic claimed his first title since last November, the unseemly saga of his deportation from Australia before the Australian Open and subsequent inability to contest the US hard-court swing seemed nothing more than a distant memory. He is back to lifting trophies.

“It’s a relief because, after everything that happened at the beginning of the year, it was important for me to win a big title, especially with grand slams coming up where obviously I want to play my best and be at the level of confidence – more than just the game – where I want to be in order to have a chance to win the title,” said Djokovic.  

“I couldn’t ask for a better week really. Played a perfect set today. Didn’t drop a set the whole tournament. I trusted the process really when I started training on clay. I did not have tournaments prior to Monte Carlo, I still felt rusty on the court. [But] I knew I’m the kind of player, particularly on clay, that needs more time, at least three, four weeks to get to the desired level. Historically, that’s always been the case.

“It’s something that I never faced before, so that amount of pressure and everything that I was feeling in the first few months of the year, as much as I’ve felt pressure in my life and my career, that was something really on a whole different level.  

“But I feel it’s already behind me. I feel great on the court. Mentally as well. I’m fresh. I’m sharp. It’s just something that happened in the past.”

The focus now will be on what happens next. In a week when Nadal compared his body to an old machine that takes time to get going, Djokovic has demonstrated that his own internal engine is revving up nicely in advance of Roland Garros.

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Last season, when Swiatek wept uncontrollably into her towel after losing to Paula Badosa at the Olympics, it was a reminder of the unrelenting pressure the tour brings, not least for a former teenage French Open champion striving to live up to the expectations created by overnight success. 

There were tears again on Sunday at the Foro Italico, where Swiatek swept to a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Ons Jabeur to complete the defence of her Italian Open title. This time, though, as the Polish world No 1 sunk to her knees, her head in her hands, her body heaving with each sob, it was indicative of just what it has taken for the 20-year-old to elevate herself to the position of pre-eminence first promised by that defining victory at Roland Garros 18 months ago. 

It was a surprisingly emotional reaction. Few, after all, would have predicted anything other than a 28th successive match win for the defending champion. But this was her fifth successive title, following wins in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Stuttgart, and the mental and emotional demands of such a run are no less exacting than the physical ones. With her latest assignment complete, the pressure valve was released. 

“It’s not something you can get used to,” said Swiatek of her extraordinary winning sequence. “Every match is tough. Even though it may seem easy, it’s never easy. It’s always a lot of pressure, always a lot of preparation. The minute we finish the match before, the next one is already starting in our heads. 

“It’s pretty tough in these tournaments where you play day by day. I have emotional reactions, but this one was probably the most emotional after winning the title. I mean, why not? It’s like a week of tension and stress, finally letting go. For me, it’s OK.”

Since the turn of the century, only three other women have gone on a comparable tear. One is Serena Williams, with whom Swiatek has now drawn level on five successive titles. The others are Justine Henin and Venus Williams, whose haul of six consecutive trophies Swiatek will equal if she can win in Paris. Do not put it past her. The alacrity with which the Pole has embraced top-dog status since the unexpected retirement of Ashleigh Barty two months ago has been nothing short of remarkable. Only Bianca Andreescu has taken more than four games in a set off her in Rome, and she was served a second-set bagel for her troubles.

Jabeur, herself on an 11-match winning streak after claiming the biggest title of her career at last week’s Madrid Open, has performed some remarkable acts of escapology over the past few days, denying Daria Kasatkina a match point in the semi-finals and recovering from 6-1, 5-2 down against Maria Sakkari in the last eight. There was little prospect of a similar comeback here. Swiatek quickly established the upper hand, a majestic topspin lob and a crunching backhand return propelling her to an early break. The manner in which she raced through the first three games in just 12 minutes rekindled memories of last year’s final, in which Swiatek eviscerated Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0. 

Jabeur avoided that ignominy, temporarily stemming the tide with the help of the net cord after Swiatek had missed a point for a double break. But the Tunisian world No 6, denied time on the ball by her opponent’s relentless aggression and intensity, was unable to bring her trademark variety to bear. Jabeur needed two aces just to claim a second hold, and it was indicative of her inability to discomfit Swiatek that she did not create a single break point in the opening set.

That changed in the opening game of set two, but Jabeur’s failure to punish a short second serve saw the opportunity quickly snatched away, and when she went on to relinquish her own serve again in the next game, she shook her head in disbelief. Greater aggression was required, but it was not until Swiatek had moved a double break ahead – helped on her way by a magnificent sliding forehand that she angled away for a winner – that Jabeur finally summoned it. A crisp volley sealed a first break, and when she held to love for 2-4 amid a flurry of Swiatek errors, it seemed as though another miraculous fightback might be taking shape.

Now came the best game of the contest, as some audacious shot-making from Jabeur carried her to a 0-40 lead and Swiatek hit back with a display of verve, determination and sheer resilience that spoke volumes about the reasons for her recent dominance. A powerful baseline attack was concluded with a swingeing drive volley. An outrageous exchange of short angles ended with Swiatek, her court coverage a thing of wonder, rolling a precise winner up the line. On it went, a rifled backhand bringing the score back to deuce before a double fault produced a fourth break point. Again the Pole responded, following up some brilliant defensive play with a courageous drop volley on the stretch. Jabeur had thrown everything at Swiatek; it was not enough.

“I should have [gone] more for my shots,” said Jabeur. “I should have let go more my hands.  She plays really well, really aggressive. Her ball is different from other players. I feel I should have believed more that I could win this match.  

“The 4-2 game was, I think, the game of the match, to be honest with you. I felt like I was trying my best to make her visit all the corners of the court, but she was ready for that. Maybe I should have [gone] more aggressively on a few shots.

“She played unbelievable on the important points. That’s what makes Iga, Iga, you know.”

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With the French Open due to start a week on Monday, the loss marks another significant setback for Nadal, who has only just returned from a six-week layoff after fracturing a rib in Indian Wells. The Spaniard, who was beaten by teenage compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of last week’s Madrid Open, had been desperate to reacquire the rhythm of regular match play. Now he will travel to Paris with just five competitive outings on clay under his belt, short of form and fitness, and facing renewed uncertainty over whether the damaged bone in his left foot, which forced him to miss the second half of last season, will withstand the rigours of five-set competition.

“I am not injured, I am a player living with an injury,” said Nadal, who had not lost in the last 16 of a Masters event since Shapovalov beat him five years ago in Montreal. “That’s it. It’s nothing new. It’s something that is there.  

“Unfortunately, my day-by-day is difficult. Even like this, I am trying hard. Of course, it’s difficult for me to accept the situation sometimes. It can be frustrating that, [on] a lot of days, I can’t practice the proper way. Today, half [way through] the second set, starts the thing – then [it] wasn’t playable for me.”

The closing stages made for painful viewing, with Nadal repeatedly wincing and gesturing to his box. After one particularly testing baseline exchange left him hobbling, he leaned over a courtside chair, staring down intently for interminable seconds. He looked for all the world as though he was contemplating his tennis mortality, a scenario that looked a long way off when he began the season with a 20-match unbeaten streak that included a record 21st grand slam title at January’s Australian Open.

“I imagine there will come a time when my head will say, ‘Enough,’” Nadal, the third seed, later told reporters in Spanish. “Pain takes away your happiness, not only in tennis but in life. And my problem is that many days I live with too much pain.”

It will come as scant consolation to Nadal that, but for a pivotal hold by Shapovalov at the start of the second set, he might have reached the sanctuary of the locker room before the problem took hold. With the Canadian world No 16 struggling to find rhythm and consistency, Nadal swept through the opener before spearing a backhand pass to bring up an early break point. It was at this stage that Shapovalov, searching for solutions, adopted a wider serving position, swinging his southpaw serve wide to the Nadal forehand and charging into the net. 

It was not the most penetrating of deliveries and, as the ball hung in the night air with a yawning gap beckoning down the line, only one outcome seemed likely. But what Shapovalov’s serve lacked in weight, it made up for in breadth. The confines of the Foro Italico’s Court Centrale are unusually narrow and, as Nadal moved to his left, he ran out of space, sending his return into the net and scraping his elbow against a courtside flower box.

It seemed an innocuous moment at the time, a fleeting blip in a match otherwise dominated by the Majorcan. But when Shapovalov went on to save a second break point with an ace, and a third with a mishit forehand that drew a rueful smile from Nadal, it began to acquire retrospective significance. Shapovalov completed a battling 11-minute hold, Nadal made four unforced errors to drop serve for the first time, and the momentum shifted abruptly towards the Canadian. Nadal had won just four out of the previous 17 points by the time he finally steadied the ship to get on the second-set scoreboard at 1-3, and although Shapovalov gifted him a break back in an error-strewn seventh game, the defending champion continued to look unexpectedly vulnerable.

“He was outplaying me in the first set,” said Shapovalov, for whom the win offered a measure of payback following narrow defeats to Nadal in Rome last year, when he twice held match point, and in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park. 

“Especially the first set, beginning of the second set, he was just dominating me, playing super solid. I didn’t change much. I just tried to hang in there. I kind of freed up after I won the service game, the first service game, in the second set. I was able to free up and play loosely from then on, elevated my game a little bit. He threw in a couple mistakes.”

The timing of Nadal’s errors proved particularly costly. He flirted with danger in the eighth game, fending off break points with an uncharacteristically tentative approach to the net and a brilliant second serve into the body, and again looked nervous as he rallied to see off a set point in the 10th game. That proved the prelude to a more alarming display of anxiety as he served to stay in the set for a second time at 5-6. The second of two double faults handed Shapovalov another chance to level the match, and this time a Nadal backhand flew long. The 23-year-old was on his way.

“Today is tough for me,” said Nadal, who reserved generous praise for Shapovalov’s performance. “I started the season great, then the rib happened.  Since I came back, the foot has been tough, being honest. It’s tough for me to be able to practice the proper way [for several] days in a row.

“During the French Open, Roland Garros, I am going to have my doctor there with me. That sometime helps, because you can do things. But I don’t know. I am just sad, obviously, today. As everybody knows, it is a tournament that I like a lot. To be out is something that I don’t like.”

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After Raducanu’s ailing back forced her to retire from her opening-round match against Bianca Andreescu at the Italian Open as she trailed 6-2, 2-1, the British 10th seed reflected ruefully on the absence of a guiding influence in her camp. 

“Of course, I want to play every opportunity I have, and probably even when I shouldn’t,” said Raducanu, whose first full season on tour has been hampered by a catalogue of physical setbacks, the latest of which raises doubts about her participation at the French Open. 

“But, you know, I just really need to be sensible. Sometimes I feel like I need a voice to, you know, just hold my hand, [say] ‘Do this, do that.’ I hope that I can just get my back right and my body fully fit. I think that next week might be a tight turnaround, even though I wanted to play next week and get more matches on clay. My back takes priority, so we’ll see what happens.”

Raducanu split with the experienced German coach Torben Beltz last month, the third such partnership she has dissolved since last summer, and in one sense her desire for firmer counsel seems at odds with her preference for seeking a varied range of input into her game. Equally, it is only natural that the 19-year-old, who has been accompanied in Rome by Iain Bates, the head of British women’s tennis, should need an informed voice in her corner in her first full season on tour. Managing her body has become as big a priority as managing her game. 

“It sucks, because I just feel like a lot of the matches, looking back, I’m either playing with this or that,” said Raducanu, whose list of ailments this year has included a deep blister on her hand that undermined her Australian Open challenge, a hip injury that forced her to retire in Guadalajara, blistered feet and now a back problem.  “

“Every single tournament, I’m learning what my body’s capable of, what it’s not. I’m learning what works, what doesn’t. It’s just I’m doing it in front of everyone. I’s something that I’ve accepted. I think it’s definitely had its challenges. I’m just kind of going through this process, just trying to develop. I think it will take me a little bit to fully figure out what’s working.” 

If anyone in the game can relate to the unusual situation in which Raducanu finds herself, as a teenage US Open champion struggling to come to terms with the physical and mental demands of life as a touring professional, it is Andreescu. From injury setbacks and the sky-high expectations of an adoring public to adjusting to life in the glare of global stardom, the 21-year-old has seen and dealt with it all. 

Within weeks of winning at Flushing Meadows in 2019 as a 19-year-old, after a summer blighted by a shoulder problem, Andreescu suffered a torn meniscus in her left knee and did not play again for 15 months. She had barely returned before she suffered an ankle injury and contracted Covid, just as Raducanu did during the off-season, when she was forced to abandon a planned training block. Numerous parallels exist between two women who were born within a few miles of each other in Canada and share Romanian heritage, but it is Andreescu’s resilience that Raducanu would most wish to emulate.

“I think that you really have to experience it to really know what you need,” said Andreescu when asked what it takes to adjust to the rigours of the tour. “You’re playing the best players, you really have to have the right nutrition, the right game plan – like physically, mentally, emotionally, everything.  

“It’s not easy being on tour. From January to October, that’s a long time. You really have to schedule your training properly, your competition, all of that. You also have to know that injuries are a part of the game. But the best thing you can do is try to prevent. I think that’s kind of the advice I can give her.”

Andreescu, who took a break towards the end of last season during which she contemplated retirement, has shown encouraging form since returning to the sport in Stuttgart last month. It is easy to forget that, between repeated injuries and the global pandemic, she too is playing her first full clay-court season. The Canadian’s weight of shot off the ground and fine kick serve augur well for success on the surface, and results so far have been encouraging, with a narrow defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in Stuttgart followed by a crushing win over Danielle Collins in Madrid. Conditions at the Foro Italico are heavier than at those events, and against Raducanu her superior firepower told.

The pattern was set from the opening game, in which some errant hitting off the forehand landed Raducanu in immediate trouble. Boosted by a timely pair of aces, the Briton survived a seven-minute struggle, fending off a trio of break points. But she was soon in difficulty again, surviving a further three break points in her next service game before another missed forehand brought up a fourth. This time the pressure told, a double fault handing Andreescu an advantage she would never relinquish. 

Even in these early stages, Raducanu’s physical limitations were apparent. She struggled to generate torque on her groundstrokes, a shortcoming exposed by Andreescu’s high-bouncing topspin, and prolonged service games only compounded her discomfort. “I was serving a lot,” said Raducanu. “They were long games. When I had to keep pushing up, it was just tough.”

While Raducanu looked understandably eager to finish the points quickly, repeatedly driving the ball close to the lines, Andreescu player with greater margin and consistency, favouring bigger targets. At 5-2, Raducanu took a lengthy medical timeout. She changed tack thereafter, applying more topspin and height to her groundstrokes, but she was winning less than half her service points and, when she was broken early in the second set, it became clear her race was run. “I can’t move,” she told the trainer.

Raducanu will now rest for a few days before making a decision on Roland Garros. “I think that everything is just taking a toll,” she said. “It’s probably just my body crying out, needs a little break.”

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