French Open 2022: 3 things that stood out in Rafael Nadal's semifinal win over Alexander Zverev
Fifth seed and 13-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal progressed to the French Open final for the 14th time after Alexander Zverev retired with an injury on Friday.
The injury came at an unfortunate time for the German, who till then had displayed an explosive brand of tennis.
With the victory, Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, improved his record in 2022 to 29-3, and should start as the title favorite in Sunday’s final against Casper Ruud.
On that note, here's a look at three factors that stood out in the semifinal.
#1 Zverev made a blistering start to the match
Zverev made the best possible start to the match by breaking Nadal in the very first game. He then held his serve to go 2-0 up. Nadal managed to hold in his next two service games, but could not break the 25-year-old German, who went 4-2 up.
Zverev struck ferocious groundstrokes from the get-go, hitting 11 winners in the first six games of the match. He punished almost every short ball and also played the angular shots very well, making Nadal move from side to side.
He also managed to hit quite a few winners off his forehand, a supposed weak link in his armour. His first-serve ratio also remained over 90% during the first six games, as Nadal struggled to put pressure on the German’s serve.
#2 Nadal made a comeback by drawing level and then winning the first set by a whisker
However, Nadal was not to be kept silent for long on his favorite hunting ground. Sensing Zverev’s aggressiveness, Nadal stopped the supply of short balls and began playing his shots deep. That, coupled with Zverev’s tendency to overpress, allowed the Spaniard to come back into the match.
Nadal broke Zverev in the eighth game of the first set and then held serve to go 5-4 ahead. Nadal played more drop shots as the set progressed and began dragging the German to the net.
The first set went to a tie-break, where the German raced to a 6-2 lead. Just when it looked like Zverev had the set in his pocket, Nadal raised his level and won five consecutive points to take a 7-6 lead. The Spaniard went on to win the tie-break 10-8.
Nadal played a few sublime passing shots, including one on set point in the tie-break to bamboozle Zverev.
MINDBLOWING 🤯
and trailing set point!
#RolandGarros | @RafaelNadal https://t.co/rSFQ97j0As
Zverev was decidedly the more aggressive player in the first set, hitting 25 winners against Nadal’s 11. However, the German also committed 26 unforced errors while Nadal only committed 10.
#3 Both players struggled to hold serve in the second set before Zverev suffered a terrible injury
The second set started with both players exchanging breaks for the first four games. Zverev then held serve to go 3-2 up and broke Nadal again to lead 4-2.
Nadal was broken again and trailed 2-5 at one point, but managed to bounce back yet again to win three consecutive games and level the score at 5-5.
Zverev then held his serve to lead 6-5. However, he suffered the injury while running to his forehand side during the final point of the 12th game of the second set. His injury was too serious and painful for him to continue and he was forced to bring an end to an epic match.