If Novak Djokovic entered the French Open with plenty of question marks hanging over his form he departs Paris still searching for answers after suffering his first straight-set grand slam defeat since the 2013 Wimbledon final.
Next Monday, Djokovic will be on 5805 points (he lost more than 11000 in a year) and that is not enough to stand inside the Top 2, as Rafael Nadal already passed him in the Live ATP Rankings, with Stan Wawrinka looking to do the same if he beat Andy Murray in the Roland Garros semi-final.
Last year, Djokovic became the first man in almost a half-century to claim a fourth straight major championship and completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, but he hasn't won a major since.
Nadal, who tackles Dominic Thiem, the conqueror of defending champion Djokovic, is bidding to become the first man to capture the same major on 10 occasions. He is the only man this year to have defeated Nadal on clay this year with his last-eight win in Rome offsetting losses in the final in Barcelona and Madrid. In that period, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray have been there to accompany him but Novak stood as the only permanent player ranked first or second, and that lasted for more than 6 years!
Wawrinka, like Murray a three-time major victor, has made his trademark understated progress to a third successive Roland Garros semi-final.
The 25-year-old Spaniard finished the set by committing two consecutive double faults and after being taken care of on the court, left for a few minutes.
"I am in the semi-finals, I have a very positive feeling", Nadal said. "I..."
"All in all, it was decided I think in the first set".
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While Thiem's part in Djokovic's downfall should not be overlooked, it was the Serbian world number two's astonishing collapse that was the talk of Roland Garros.
"I don't know how Stan is going to play on Friday".
The pair also clashed in the last four a year ago, when Murray gave probably his best ever performance on clay to win in four sets before going on to lose to Novak Djokovic.
The defeat was Djokovic's first straight-sets loss at a major in four years and comes just 12 months after he completed the career Grand Slam in Paris. I'm motivated as any other player on the Tour.
"In the semi-final previous year, Andy was really aggressive", said Wawrinka.
Thiem says: "It's a joke how tough it is to win a Slam. Hopefully I can take advantage of that and find solutions to beat him", the Swiss said of that upcoming Friday battle of three-time Grand Slam champions. The clash may not have been what the draw seeded, but its nearly certainly one to look forward, with the two being the form players left in the draw. "It will be the toughest match you can imagine". The least I can do is give my all whenever I'm holding a racket in my hand.
Simona Halep produced an incredible escape act to reach the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday, while Karolina Pliskova ended the run of the lone remaining home hope Caroline Garcia.
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