Great fight commanded
Zverev had a great one before Nadal fight commanded and repeatedly brought the clay court king of Paris into serious distress. However, the German number one was unable to take advantage of many opportunities.
When marching on the Court Philippe Chatrier Nadal was received with an ovation. The spectators rose from their seats and applauded – as if they were seeing the 36-year-old Spanish exceptional talent for the last time live could admire. In honor of his birthday, the audience even serenaded.
The obligatory presentation of the Spaniard by the cult stadium announcer Marc Maury lasted exactly 1:22 minutes. That’s how long it takes to see all of Nadal’s successes in Stadium Roland Garros to enumerate Everything was set for the next Rafael Nadalshow on the red sands of Paris.
Because of the rain in the French capital, the roof over the largest stadium in the complex was closed. The mood was electrifying as Nadal opened the game at 3:05 p.m.
Nadal took the serve straight away
But Zverev wasn’t impressed by any of this at first. The German number one played aggressively from the start and surprised Nadal with numerous unattainable shots. Right at the start he took the serve from the Spaniard. A murmur went through the arena. encouraging “Rafah, Rafah”– There had probably never been calls at such an early stage in Paris.
Zverev then played the best tennis he had ever played for seven games Grand Slamtournament played. But then suddenly there was a break in the game of the German. Nadal was still far from his top form, but Zverev suddenly made many slight mistakes. So he let Nadal back into the game, and the Spaniard made it 4: 4 Break to compensate.
Saved five set balls
After that, the game went back and forth. When the score was 4: 5, Zverev fended off three set balls from Nadal and then did not use two break balls in the Spaniard’s subsequent service game. in the tiebreak Zverev then suddenly had four set balls. He missed one with a slight volley error, Nadal fended off the rest in a manner that he saw on the Center Court known from Paris – simply world class.
But Zverev resisted, fended off two more set balls from Nadal, only to lose the first round after 1:31 hours – because Nadal used his sixth set ball with an incredible passing ball to the deafening cheers of the spectators.
A single back and forth
The back and forth continued in the second set. Zverev immediately lost serve but fought back and continued to make life incredibly difficult for Nadal. When the score was 5:3, he served to win the set, but made three double mistakes. The decision seemed so again in the tiebreak to fall, but then the drama happened and Zverev had to give up.
Zverev thus missed the second Grand Slam-Endgame of his career. If the Olympic champion had that French Open won, he would have taken first place in the world rankings.
So Nadal now has the chance on Sunday (June 5th, 2022) to win his 14th title at the French Open to win and his record of 21 triumphs so far Grand Slam– Expand tournaments. In the final he meets the Norwegian Casper Ruudwho faced the Croatian in the second semifinal Marin Cilic has enforced.
Source: red/dpa