Zverev's drama, Nadal's magic

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Alexander Zverev is lying on the ground after his serious fall

Photo:

GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS

Crutches instead of bats:

More than three hours were played in the first semifinals of the French Open.

Alexander Zverev dueled with Rafael Nadal at a high level, the second set would have gone into a tie-break.

But then it happens: Zverev wants to bring back a forehand from Nadal and twists his right foot badly.

The screams of pain can be heard throughout the stadium, shortly afterwards the German is taken off the pitch in a wheelchair.

Nadal waits briefly, then goes into the catacombs afterwards and comes back onto the pitch with Zverev on crutches.

The dream of the second Grand Slam final of his career is over, the French Open is over for Zverev.

The (unimportant) result:

In tennis jargon it is called a "walkover" when a player advances after his opponent has given up.

After 7: 6, 6: 6, Nadal is again in the final of the French Open.

A winner's interview against his will:

Zverev wanted to say goodbye personally to the fans.

This was rewarded with "Sascha" calls, also because he had previously delivered a match at eye level to Nadal, the darling of the masses.

Nadal, on the other hand, would have preferred to leave the pitch with Zverev afterwards, he would have liked to have done without the interview with Mats Wilander.

"It's a dream to be in the final again," said Nadal, embarrassed.

"But seeing Zverev crying in the cabin was a bad moment."

Indoor tennis in Paris:

For two years now there has been the opportunity to close a roof on the Court Philippe-Chatrier at the second Grand Slam of the year.

It actually started to rain in Paris half an hour before the start, so the organizers decided early on to ensure safe conditions.

That also meant: no sun, no wind and, above all, completely different conditions than both players had in training over the past few days.

Advantage for the more experienced Nadal?

In the end it didn't matter.

It's still the French Open:

Rafael Nadal and this Grand Slam tournament at the Stade Roland Garros - it's a special, almost magical relationship.

Zverev knows that too, he had talked about it himself in the past few days.

He also experienced it until his injury.

Zverev was the better, more active player in the first set.

He led for a long time, then it went into the tie-break, where Zverev had four set balls.

Nadal's magic showed itself in two sensational forehand shots, both in total distress, the one to defend the third set ball being almost impossible physically.

This is how a 13-time French Open winner plays.

Early starter Zverev:

When the two opponents entered the stadium, everything was as usual.

The sympathy of the audience belonged to Nadal, he meticulously draped his towels on the edge of the field, and as usual he used the breaks between the rallies to the limit of the time allowed.

It wasn't just sporty for Nadal - because Zverev started where he had stopped in the quarter-finals against Carlos Alcaraz.

Focused, ignoring external circumstances, with good depth on groundstrokes, consistent on serves.

After half an hour with an early break, Zverev had already beaten twelve winners, at the end of the set there were 25.

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However, the analysis of this match also included the fact that with Nadal's rebreak to 4: 4, Zverev's mistakes increased.

Sometimes it was an accidental stop ball, once the 25-year-old even lost his racket, and Zverev couldn't do much with the Spaniard's short balls.

It wasn't always a high-class, but dramatic match that didn't have to hide behind Nadal's numerous battles against Novak Djoković or Roger Federer.

It culminated in a tiebreak with a total of eight mini-breaks - and the better ending for the matador.

Gentleman Nadal:

If it weren't for Rafael Nadal, there would probably be more complaints on the ATP tour or in Grand Slam tournaments because of his frequent game delays, for example frequent ball tapping before serving or wiping sweat.

But an active tennis legend is forgiven more - also because of this: After winning the game to 6: 5, Zverev and Nadal met on the way to their benches at the net.

As a rule, players avoid each other in these situations, not even looking at each other.

Nadal let his opponent go ahead with a short gesture.

New strengths, old weaknesses:

The second sentence began from the tennis textbook.

After this intense first round, which was outshined by the bad end, Zverev lost his first service game to zero.

There have been tournaments in the past where he would have ended up in a negative spiral afterwards.

But the Zverev of this French Open has developed mentally, he is no longer so easily roused and remains focused even after negative experiences.

The game was now characterized by service losses on both sides, Zverev made slight mistakes, his serve was no longer so reliable.

But he kept at it – until his fateful fall.

What's next?

If it is clear exactly which injury Zverev has sustained (the diagnosis is not yet known), it would be desirable for the third in the world rankings to be able to draw the positive out of this French Open: the longing for the first Grand Slam title remains, but despite his final appearance at the US Open 2020, Zverev never seems to have been closer.

"I know how hard it is to win a Grand Slam," said Nadal.

"He will make it."

The 36-year-old will meet the winner of the game between Casper Ruud (Norway) and Marin Čilić (Croatia) in Sunday's final.

If successful, Nadal would have 14 French Open triumphs - and 22 Grand Slam victories in total.