(Paris) With his bandana around his forehead, his long and meticulous routines, his lasso forehand, Rafael Nadal, long uncertain, was well on the Central Monday, but it was Alexander Zverev who won in three sets against the king of Roland-Garros.
The German, 4e world, still took 3 hours 05 minutes to overcome the fierce resistance of the Spaniard and win 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 in what could turn out to have been the last match of Nadal at Roland-Garros since his debut and the first of his 14 titles, in 2005.
“I’m not 100% sure, but if it’s the last time, I had fun,” assured the Spaniard, repeating after the meeting that there was “a high percentage of chances” that he don’t come back.
“I hope in any case to come back for the Olympic Games” this summer, he added.
Rafael Nadal has never been eliminated in the first round of Roland-Garros. But was it really a first round? In fact, yes obviously. But the people in the stands (including Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek), the tension and the level of his opponent plunged the event into a final atmosphere.
Zverev not impressed
In any case, nothing to do with a usual first round match nor with the previous match which pitted the unstoppable Swiatek against the Frenchwoman Léolia Jeanjean.
Under the closed roof, the volume of the ovation increases as the announcer recites Nadal’s fourteen coronations, until the explosion when his name is pronounced.
Zverev also received a large ovation… but a little less.
PHOTO GONZALO FUENTES, REUTERS
Alexander Zverev
The first exchange of the game, on Nadal’s serve, ends with a completely missed drop shot from the Spaniard who will again take a winning shot, commit a double fault and send a final backhand into the net to let it escape from the start his service game.
Not only is Zverev not impressed by his opponent, but he accepts with relish the arm wrestling from the baseline: Nadal is no longer as fast as in his heyday and is gradually letting himself be overwhelmed.
Times are changing: Rafa is caught up in the long exchanges and it is his opponent’s big forehands that hit the mark, not his own.
“Vamos Rafa” rise from the stands and the Spaniard’s points are loudly celebrated. Particularly when, against a tactic proven over years and years, Nadal wins a point by serving and volleying.
Although he no longer has the capacity of his twenty years, Nadal has on the other hand lost none of his fighting spirit.
Some very nice shots in the 4e game of the second inning wakes him and the public. While the stands stand up as one man to shout their joy at seeing him win his service game in style, he himself shouts his contentment in a big jump and the tight point.
In the process, a winning drop shot allows him to make the break to lead 3-2. He confirms at 4-2 by finally landing a big attacking forehand along the line that Zverev fails to put back into the court.
Under pressure
Suddenly his strikes are clicking a lot more. His balls are longer, he is more incisive and achieves feats on the fly. At the same time, his opponent made a few unforced errors and Nadal found himself serving for the set at 5-4. But instead of concluding, he concedes a blank break.
And it is he who finds himself under pressure again to serve to take the set to the tiebreaker. Despite all his efforts and a few smoking shots, he could not prevent the German from leading two rounds to zero.
But if Zverev thought he had extinguished his opponent’s desires, the latter quickly set his mind straight by achieving the break to lead 2-0 at the start of the third set.
Zverev returns to the fight and manages to battle hard to equalize at 2-2. He even gets four break points to lead 3-2, but Nadal saves them and finally wins his faceoff in more than 11 minutes.
This will be insufficient: at 3-3, the German lines up three games in a row to win, despite the loud encouragement for his opponent.