Last week, Rafael Nadal secured the 14th Roland Garros title, extending his Parisian dominance and writing the record books. The Spaniard had to deal with foot pain and three difficult rivals within a couple of days. Rafa endured all the efforts to advance into the final, where he had a more relaxed day at the office.
Nadal experienced one of his most formidable Roland Garros challenges in the semi-final versus Alexander Zverev, who pushed him to the limits on a slow court under a roof. The clock showed the three-hour mark, and they were still in the second set.
Nadal led 7-6, 6-6 when Alexander suffered a nasty right ankle injury and retired. The German fell to the ground after the 12th game’s last point and screamed in pain, and it was evident that he could not continue the match.
He returned a few minutes later on crutches to announce his retirement, the first in a career on the Tour! Nadal survived four set points in the opener and came from behind in the second. Those two sets brought almost 200 points, and Rafa took only four more than Alexander.
Both players claimed five breaks and grabbed nearly half of the return points. Zverev delivered a break in the encounter’s opening game and forged a 4-2 lead to settle into a fine rhythm. The German played a loose service game at 4-3 to experience a break and bring Nadal back to the positive side.
Rafa took charge and created three set points on the return in game ten, missing them to increase the drama.
Rafael Nadal had to dig deep before Alexander Zverev retired at the Roland Garros.
Nadal fell 6-2 behind in the tie break and delivered his A-game to rattle off five straight points and extend the battle.
Zverev fended off two set points at 6-7 and 7-8 before Nadal cracked a forehand down the line winner at 9-8 to steal the opener after 91 minutes! The second set kicked off with four consecutive breaks, and Nadal found himself 4-2 behind after more mistakes behind the initial shot.
Zverev hit a double fault in the seventh game to lose serve before breaking Nadal for the fourth time in a row and opening a 5-3 gap. Nadal fought hard and pulled a break back at the last moment following Zverev’s costly double fault.
They both served well in the following three games to set another tie break. It never came, though, as Alexander twisted his right ankle in the 12th game’s last point and retired a couple of minutes later. “Physically, I’m very well, as I was throughout the two weeks.
I played matches over four hours long against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Novak Djokovic and three hours versus Alexander Zverev when he got injured. I felt good the following mornings, with no muscle ache in my body. I felt fine throughout Roland Garros,” Rafael Nadal said.
Source: Tennis World USA