The Spaniard hesitates to say goodbye and plays a few semifinals at Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal has been pessimistic about his physical condition in recent months. In the year of the best start of his sports career, with 20 victories in a row and already won a Grand Slam, the Spaniard does nothing but warn that the end is near, that his body is struggling to recover from the efforts and that chronic foot injury cannot be cured. His pessimism has translated into painful images, such as the view in Rome when he stumbled from the field in the 16th round in an early defeat, and caution against Roland Garros, the tournament in which he appeared most often. champion.
This concern is not alleviated, even by taking one of the best wins of the past year, which acts as a means of revenge after what happened here in the semi-finals last year. It’s as if time stood still as the calendar marked the stop in Paris, as if his body had given him a break in the French capital. A physical respite only, because in his mind Nadal is still not confident that everything will go well.
“I don’t know what will happen after this tournament,” said the Spaniard after beating Djokovic. “I am very clear about that. I don’t have to hide anything at my age. I have what I have in my foot and if we don’t find a solution it will be hard for me. At the moment we have not found a solution,” he added.
The problem in the left foot is a continuous murmur in Nadal’s head, which he tries to chase away with victories. He currently has five on this Roland Garros, 111 in the tournament total. In his last two games, he’s amassed nearly nine hours on the pitch and the good news is the physical ailments haven’t appeared, at least apparently. He warned that it may be his last Roland Garros, but he may have two games left. On the day of his 36th birthday, he will play his 15th semi-final in Paris, of which he lost only a few, against Djokovic last year.
“I know I haven’t won anything so far. I only managed to win the quarter-finals and create a chance to be in the semi-finals. It’s been a very nice evening and the aim is to tennis level I’ve had to maintain today,” the Spaniard assimilated, also praised by his victim in Belgrade.
“Nadal played better than me at important moments,” said Djokovic, who was not surprised by the Spaniard’s ability to recover.
“He is able to make a 100% physical recovery a few days after he was injured and can barely walk. He has done it many times in his career,” the world number one clarified.
Nadal’s next rival will be very different from Djokovic. It will be Alexander Zverev who knocked out Carlos Alcaraz and contested his second semifinal at Roland Garros and fifth overall in the Grand Slams. The German has only beaten Nadal once on clay and that was on the least clay of all, Madrid’s in 2021. The other four clashes on clay fell on the side of the man from Manacor, who defeated him for the last time in the semifinals in Rome last year.
Zverev, now number three in the world, is chasing the Grand Slams denied his generation, due to resistance to the ‘Big Three’ and the now greater threat from the new group led by Alcaraz. The one from Hamburg, yes, has a very poor record against ‘top ten’ in Grand Slam. Alcaraz is the first top ten player in the world to beat in a tournament of this material. He has lost the other eleven encounters, including three with Djokovic and one with Nadal. It is the first time since the third round of Australia 2017 that he can be seen with the Spaniard in a Grande.
The meeting this time will take place outside the night session and will not be played on Friday before 2:30 PM Spanish time.
Source: La Verdad
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