Records and precedents in hand, and always respecting the notable stature of a tennis player who has already won 22 trophies – including six Masters 1000, an Olympic gold and two Masters Cups – and who is gradually heading towards the complex direction of sporting maturity. , Alexander Zverev should not represent a major problem for Rafael Nadal on a track in Paris. The Spaniard has defeated the German seven of the ten times that both have faced each other, five of six on clay, the last precisely two years ago at Roland Garros. But the current reality is very different. This is confirmed by the expressiveness of those present during the draw held yesterday at the L’Orangerie d’Auteuil, where after learning that the giant will be the first obstacle for the Mallorcan in this (theoretical) last step through the Bois de Boulogne, a very long onomatopoeia of surprise. Hands to the head.
It was known that Nadal – deprived of the traditional status of seed due to his pronounced fall in the list – was going to receive a coconut. But perhaps, analyzing coldly, the most unfavorable of all could perhaps be called Zverev. In the same way that tennis is a sport that offers the possibility of reversing the situation in a short period of time, it usually rewards the moment, and that of both describe opposite directions. The Spaniard, about to turn 38, fights against an inevitable goodbye that is getting closer every day, and he does so immersed in the tangled process of this present that denies him time and pressures him incessantly: win or nothing. And without victories, there is no rhythm or continuity; that is, back to the starting point. On the other hand, the one from Hamburg is enjoying some happy days in which he is still savoring the recent title in Rome, a place of redemption.
There he obtained the first relevant trophy of his career and there he was released less than a week ago. “The focus is on Paris,” he warned, however. “For me, this year Sascha is the main candidate,” the Swede Mats Wilander, who knows something about tennis, concedes to this newspaper. So he was not a desirable cross in any case. Players of a superior dimension like Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz were not a dish of good taste either, but the first seems to arrive in Paris surrounded by doubts – he has not won any title and his performance has left much to be desired – and the two young people due to physical uncertainty; One’s hip hurts, the other’s right forearm hurts. Being who one is and rising as the other two have risen, they were also inadvisable, but if in recent times they have offered a moment of vulnerability it is now.
Since he re-entered the competition in mid-April, in Barcelona, Nadal lives day to day more than ever, and his takeoff in this tournament will be absolutely symbolic. To begin with, a final. If he managed to overcome it, he has the consolation that the hypothetical route would grant him a couple of relatively friendly seasons to gain sensations, although from the round of 16 onwards the terrain would tilt again (Rune, Khachanov, Medvedev…). In any case, everything is hypothesis and conjecture for a champion who does not even know how he will react on the court, who walks on a physical wire and who has not played a five-set match for almost a year and a half, when his psoas tendon The iliac muscle ruptured and forced him to undergo surgery later.
After a few lurches, Zverev has been fine-tuning his professional course and is confident that at the close of an era, that of the three giants, he can begin to achieve greater success on the circuit. So far, the lost final against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open has marked the limit for him in the majors, with five other presences in the semifinals; three of them, at Roland Garros. A superb server – he conceded only five points in the final of the Foro Italico against Nicolás Jarry -, eight of his 22 laurels have been awarded on clay and he shares the service threat with the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, the bomber who recently defeated Nadal in the Italian capital. In return, the Spaniard will try to offset the balance based on mystique and psychology, without forgetting the powerful effect of the environmental factor on a track that he knows and dominates like no one else.
He monopolizes almost everything in an edition that actually offers multiple attractions. There are Alcaraz – scheduled from the start with a rival from the previous phase – and 13 other Spanish representatives; They are accompanied by Davidovich, Pedro Martínez, Carballés, Bautista and Munar (paired) or the reappeared Pablo Carreño, who returns after a tortuous dispute with the elbow; Sorribes – against Andreescu – will lead the women’s delegation, completed with Bucsa, Bouzas, Masarova, Badosa and Irene Burillo. The latter will debut in the main draw of a major tournament, and the second in Roland Garros after having had a first experience in Wimbledon last year.
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