Rafa Nadal won in June for the 14th time at Roland Garros. The clay court in Paris once again crowned the Balearic tennis player, who went through a difficult moment in their semifinal duel.
Alexander Zverev was measured who, taking advantage of the track conditions (wet and heavy) put the great favorite against the ropes.
However, it was all over for him in the second set tiebreak, when he broke his ankle trying to catch a tight ball to Nadal.
His abandonment left us all wondering what could have been if the game had continued, a doubt he himself would have admitted to having.
“Don’t know what could have happened in that match: if I hadn’t been injured, of course I could have lost that match too. He could still add his 14th Grand Slam, but for some unknown reason he thought he could defeat him. I don’t mean to sound arrogant: Rafa is obviously the best player to have played on that surface, so you never know what can happen,” said the German in an interview for Eurosport.
“I felt like I was playing some of the best tennis I’ve ever played on clay. For some reason, it seemed to me that at least I could compete with him one-on-one, which is what he was doing.. Obviously the final result of a game also depends on small details, but I really felt that this was my week” added Zverev who talked about how difficult it was for him to recover from that injury.
“I couldn’t walk for two months. You must internalize your movements again, learn to walk and run again. These are all factors that can affect your tennis. I don’t think I can be compared to Rafa, because Rafa came back and started winning games not only against everyone, but doing it 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2″ he concluded.
Source: La Verdad
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