(Paris) A year after seriously injuring his right ankle in the middle of the semi-final against Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev, ex-N. 2 global today 27eis back in the last four at Roland-Garros on Friday, opposed to outgoing finalist Casper Ruud (not before 5:30 p.m.).
When his ankle was violently twisted a year ago, Zverev had been making life very hard at the master of the house for more than three hours and the two players had not even completed the second set yet (7-6 [10/8], 6-6 in favor of Nadal). That day, each of the two sets had lasted the time of a football match.
Evacuated from Central Court in a wheelchair, in tears, the German, then 25 years old, briefly returned there leaning on crutches to formalize his abandonment.
His injury – several torn ligaments – would keep him out of action for the rest of the 2022 season.
A year later, after “the most difficult year of (his) life”, repeats Zverev, Roland-Garros is the scene of his rebirth at the highest level. And as a symbol, he played almost all his matches there on the Central, with the exception of his first round. Three even had the honors of the evening session.
“On one leg” in Australia
“I love tennis, I don’t play for money or notoriety, but just for this sport, I love competition, I love playing tennis, he said during the Paris fortnight. . To be deprived of it was very hard, but I’m so happy to be back, to play big games again, on this magnificent court. »
“It’s a tournament that I had really checked off my calendar, I really wanted to do well here,” he continues.
“Despite what happened last year, I still love this place, I still love this court,” adds “Sascha”, who admitted to having set foot there “nervously” in the second round.
But constantly brought back to his injury, Zverev insists: “I am extremely happy with the way I play and with the way things are going, but the tournament is not over yet. I hope to have two more games ahead of me”.
PHOTO JULIEN DE ROSA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Alexander Zverev
The road back to the top level has been a long one for the 26-year-old German.
“I couldn’t play for seven months after my injury. The next three, four months, it was still painful. I couldn’t move as I wanted,” he says.
Getting rid of the pain “took longer than expected. At the start of the season, in Australia, I was still playing on one leg. After, let’s say until Indian Wells and Miami, I still had pain at times. I couldn’t train normally, he continues. And afterwards, feeling confident again on your leg also takes time, to move as before, on the slides…”
” It’s from the past ”
“But I got to the point where I don’t think so much about the injury, about what happened,” Zverev said. I’m just happy to be back where I was last year, and to have another chance. I hope I can grab it. »
“I talk about the injury more than I think about it. It’s in the past now,” he concludes.
The tall German (1.98 m) is in any case living his best tournament since his return in early 2023.
Before Roland-Garros, he had lined up three wins in a row at best (semi-final in Dubai in early March). On clay in Paris, he is already at five before his semi-final against Ruud, his sixth in a Grand Slam.
He has only won one so far, at the 2020 US Open, before losing in the final to Dominic Thiem.
Ruud, a very average season before returning to the Porte d’Auteuil, will play him his third, at 24 years old. The first two, both in 2022, smiled on him, at Roland-Garros already and at the US Open. Not the finals that followed, against Nadal and the one who would become world No.1, Carlos Alcaraz.