Both Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev probably feel like they should already be in the French Open final. One of them, however, will be ousted in the semis on Friday afternoon.
Nadal needed five sets to get past Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round, after which he outlasted world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) on Tuesday night. That quarterfinal contest between the two all-time greats lasted four hours and 12 minutes. Fortunately for Nadal, he has two full days off prior to the semis and his first three matches–against Jordan Thompson, Corentin Moutet, and Botic van de Zandschulp–were walks in the park.
Zverev was one point away from being bounced out in the second round. The third-ranked German came back from the brink of defeat to beat Sebastian Baez 2-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5. Zverev also got the best of Sebastian Ofner, Brandon Nakashima, and Bernabe Zapata Miralles to reach the last 16, where he upset Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) on Tuesday.
Needless to say, it has not been easy for either man.
But they have made it to semifinal Friday, and their reward is a 10th career head-to-head meeting. Nadal holds a 6-3 lead in the series, including 4-1 on clay. They faced each other twice last spring on the red stuff, with Zverev pulling off a 6-4, 6-4 upset in Madrid before Nadal–playing in far more favorable conditions–gained revenge in the form of a 6-3, 6-4 victory at the Madrid Masters.
Conditions should be back in the 35-year-old’s favor on Friday. His quarterfinal showdown against Djokovic was played late at night, but the first semifinal between Nadal and Zverev is scheduled for 2:45 pm local. That’s much better for the Spaniard’s game, even though–let’s be honest–it hardly matters what the situation is whenever he takes the court at Roland Garros. After all, Nadal is 110-3 lifetime at this tournament with 13 titles.
He can’t win No. 14 on Friday, but he can put himself in great position. And given his form throughout the fortnight and two day of rest following his hard-fought defeat of Djokovic, that is exactly what Nadal can be expected to do.
Pick: Nadal in 3
Loads of errors from Rafa
Just chucked his serve away
this is getting very frustrating
on serve again 🙁
Rafa’s second set let down…did everything to let Zverev back into the match..
Rafa’s serve is just horrible, can’t even make a first serve! Come on Rafa, if you can hold serve, at least break serve to stay in the set! Vamos!
If you can’t hold serve, at least break your opponent’s serve!
The humidity can’t be easy and plus he’s probably a tad winded, after all he worked hard to win first set! Just give him a break! 😝😃
Rafa is playing better receiving than serving
Think the humidity affects him a lot serving
Ok bpsgone
He had Zverev on the ropes then let him back in
Rafa hasn’t won a single point behind his first serve this set!
The one thing he is doing consistently is be brilliant at net…
I do think the humidity and the serve clock affect him badly…
Rafa playing tentative again
That just won’t work
zverev broke rafa. not able to hold his serve. Not able to watch match. what is happening. is rafa playing bad or zverev playing better
Rafa playing bad. Very tentative.
It’s pretty unwatchable right now
He just looks exhausted
humm. zverev broke back again wrong time for rafa. serving for set
See, breaks twice and gets broken three times, like in the QF! What’s Rafa thinking! He’s spending extra energy on court unnecessarily; please break Zverev’s serve again!
You know people have to start giving Zverev some credit. He could have gotten discouraged and let it get away from him. He is hanging in there. Rafa is having trouble with the humidity.
He has to go for his shots.
Otherwise he is done
You know people have to start giving Zverev some credit. He could have gotten discouraged and let it get away from him. He is hanging in there. Rafa is having trouble with the humidity.
This second set is not of high quality, full of errors from both, and six breaks of serves! Unbelievably bad!
Cone on Rafa, hood serve here for a change!
The humidity is just destroying both, Rafa even more.. I hate when they play under the roof! That is just not what RG clay is about! This is painful to watch!
Vamos Rafa!
Yeah I just switched off my ipad
Sorry that was me
I can’t watch any more
Rafa just seems so done in by the humidity that I can’t watch..
is roof closed?
Oh my gosh! Neither one can hold? The conditions r atrocious though, for real!!! Y is Rafa sweating this much, the ventilation is poor?
! I’m still on the road running errands! If I was home I’d really be a nervous wreck, good thing I can keep updated on the scores while I do my thing!!
The good thing about Rafa when he retires is that I won’t have to deal with all that drama, nerves and anxiety!!! 🤣😂
rafa need to hold here otherwise set is gone
Hey let’s keep it real. Rafa just broke Zverev again. So they are trading breaks. They both are having their issues.
And not only that u can hardly hold that racket properly when u sweating buckets!!
humm. french open put roof but did not think of making it better for players.