Relegated far in the ATP rankings, Rafael Nadal, almost 38 years old, is not seeded at Roland-Garros, and the draw was not kind to him, since he will have to face in the first round on Monday to the German Alexander Zverev, 4th player in the world. A major challenge for the record holder for victories on Parisian clay, who has been physically diminished for several months.
Published on: 05/26/2024 – 2:57 p.m.
4 mn
In 2022, Alexander Zverev was the only player to push Rafael Nadal to his limits at Roland Garros, in the semi-finals, but the German gave up, injured, leaving the Spaniard to go and collect his 14th coronation. This year, fate wanted the two players to face each other in an extraordinary first round, Monday May 27.
“I really wanted to play him here again. But, ideally, I was hoping to play him later in the tournament. I didn’t want the last memory of a match against him to be me walking off the court in a chair rolling,” assured Zverev.
“I was training and at one point I was told who I was going to face. My reaction… I could have expected it, right? When you’re not seeded, anything can happen,” he said. Nadal said.
The two men have not faced each other since that fateful June 1, 2022. And the situation has radically changed.
Seeded status in question
Zverev, 27, is 4th in the world and arrives full of certainties, in particular the title at the Masters 1000 in Rome, his last preparation tournament. Nadal, on the contrary, will be 38 years old on June 3, has never set foot at Roland-Garros again, has not won a tournament either and has even played very little, having a series of injuries and periods of recovery. He lost in the second round in Rome, a “disaster” according to his term, is ranked 275th in the world and was not protected in the draw.
“Obviously, on paper, it’s not the best draw,” admitted the man with 22 Grand Slam titles. “I’m playing one of the strongest opponents, winner of the last preparation tournament who, in addition, is not a small tournament… But, it’s the draw, what can I do about it?”
The big question before this draw was whether it was necessary to protect Nadal by still granting him seeded status given his very particular status at Roland-Garros: he only lost three of the 115 matches he has played there since his first participation and his first title in 2005.
Tournament director Amélie Mauresmo accepted the fact of not protecting him but didn’t really have any words to comment on the result. “I just said to myself: ‘OK, that’s heavy for a first round,'” she agreed on Sunday.
Nadal “better than a month and a half ago”
While Nadal is now in the final stretch of his career, his favorite tournament had planned a ceremony at the end of his last match this year. And Zverev, still in search of a Grand Slam title – he played the final at the 2020 US Open – has the potential to be his last opponent.
Except that Nadal assured that he felt “better than a month and a half ago” and that his latest training sessions convinced him that he was “capable of competing with almost everyone”.
“I don’t feel much worse than the others, that gives me hope,” he insisted.
Also, even if he declared several times on Saturday that this Roland-Garros had “a big, big chance” of being his last, he did not completely close the door to a return.
Stressing that it was not in his interest to announce in advance that he would never play the tournament again, for obvious reasons of motivation, he even asked the organizers not to hold a ceremony this year.
“Indeed, we were ready to press the button [pour lancer la cérémonie], but he is the one who manages his timing, he is the one who decides for himself and we will follow what he wants. We will not put him in an uncomfortable position,” Mauresmo said.
In any case, Nadal or Zverev, whoever passes this first round will have taken a first step towards a possible semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
With AFP
