The innocent hand of the Olympic champion Maria Jose Perec starred in the great bombshell in the Roland Garros draw when he took the ball Alexander Zverev as a dance partner Rafael Nadal in the first round of the tournament in which the 14-time champion announced his farewell.
If in some moment Nadal and his entourage hoped to experience a new feat at the Philippe Chatrier, where the former number 1 imposed his law since he won his first title in 2005, now it is difficult to believe in even one of those miracles harvested during two decades on the land of the French center court, which has been like the patio of his house.
At 12:00 noon on Sunday, Nadal is scheduled to appear to open the 128th edition of the tournament and face Zverev who arrives as champion of Rome and world number 4. The last time they played on that stage, the German tennis player had to leave in the semifinals after breaking his ankle.
All or nothing
“If there is a 0.01% chance, I want to explore it and I want to try it. But if there is a 0.0, no. “I prefer to keep all the memories,” he had said in an interview with France 2 before arriving in Paris this Monday to prepare for the most difficult mission of his extraordinary career.
If Nadal had any hope yesterday, after the draw, they may have vanished even though inside he continues to believe in those 0.01% of options to face a challenge in which he must be at the highest level, both physically and mentally. Nadal knows the time has come. It’s time to play without brakes and without a net. All or nothing. “In Paris, let it be what God wants. That will be the time to try it no matter what happens and it breaks me,” he said after losing in Barcelona.
Ranked 276th in the world, one week away from turning 38, with only eight games played on land Since, more than 500 days ago, he won his 14th Roland Garros in 2022 on that same stage, Nadal does not seem in a position to stand up to a rival whom he has won seven of the ten times they have faced each other before.
A Zverev who, after his last victory at the Foro Italico, has earned a place in the betting as a favorite to compete in the tournament that appears to be the most open in recent years.
The champion’s doubts
A Roland Garros in which the champion, Novak Djokovic, is not at his best for the defense of the crown. The world number 1 will arrive in Paris without winning any title this year and with only 17 games played since the beginning of 2024 (12-5). On the European clay tour he was eliminated in the semi-finals of Monte Carlo (Ruud) and in the third round in Rome (Tabilo) and has looked in the Geneva tournament this week for a shot that he is missing.
Neither Jannik Sinnerwhich destroyed the Carlos Alcaraz of the second place in the world, after winning his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open and chaining a winning streak with titles in Rotterdam and Miami, he appears better, with doubts due to some discomfort in his hip that forced him to retire in the quarterfinals. final in Madrid and give up Rome.
Alcaraz, on the path of Sinner
The Italian’s moment is a mystery at Roland Garros just as it is for Alcaraz, who returns to the competition after also being sidelined in Rome due to the discomfort in her right forearm that has prevented her from playing almost the entire European clay tour, giving up Monte Carlo, Barcelona and playing only three games in Madrid, where she was eliminated Andrey Rublev. The Russian tennis player, champion in the Caja Mágica, could be the Murcian’s rival in a theoretical quarterfinal and before meeting Sinner in the semifinals.
The road to the second week of Alcaraz In the fight for the title at Roland Garros, where last year he lost in the semifinals trapped by cramps against Djokovic, he will start in a calmer way than Nadal, with a first rival from the qualifying phase, the British Jack Draper or another player from the previous round in the second round and, later, more complicated rivals, such as the American Sebastian Korda (third round) and the also American Brian Shelton or the Canadian Very happy Auger (eighths). Alcaraz has only won the Indian Wells tournament this year, where he eliminated Sinner in the semifinals and won the final against the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Second line favorites
The list of favorites should be expanded with Medvedev himself, world number 5, for whom the ground tends to indigest, but especially tennis players on the second line who have had better results on the clay tour such as Zverev, the Norwegian. Casper Ruuddouble finalist at Roland Garros in 2022 and 2023, who won in Monte Carlo or the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipasalso a finalist in Paris in 2021, who won the title in Barcelona.
