"That is not how you want to win, especially one that was as competitive as that"- Chanda Rubin on Rafael Nadal's French Open semifinal against Alexander Zverev
Rafael Nadal is one win away from a 14th French Open crown. He is through to the Roland Garros final Alexander Zverev was forced to retire from their semifinal clash on Friday with an unfortunate ankle injury.
After an excrutiating run of games between the two, a tie break was required to decide the winner of the first set. Nadal saved four set points to win the nerve-wracking first set 7-6(8).
Nadal and Zverev were both slow to start the second set and were clearly feeling the aftereffects of what was an intense and physical opening ninety minutes of the match.
The second set was locked at 6-6, when Zverev picked up the injury. He rolled his ankle while attempting a forehand and was visibly in excrutiating pain, leading to his retirement.
Chanda Rubin, speaking on Tennis Channel, analysed the situation and gave her thoughts on the match. She said that the manner of the victory would not sit right with Nadal.
"For Nadal, that is not how you want to win a match, especially one that was as competitive as that. They were going at it and it was shaping up to be an incredible finish," Chanda Rubin said. "The worst thing that could happen to a player on court is an acute injury and not being able to play the next point."
She had words of comfort for Zverev, and said she could understand the situation he finds himself in.
"You think about all the work, all the time put into going into a tournament and then being in the semifinal playing for a major title, it doesn't come down to whether or not you can perform, it comes down to an injury, an injury you can never expect," said Chanda Rubin.
Speaking about the injury, Rubin said that he took all his weight on the side of his ankle, which caused the injury.
"In this case, it looked like he took all of his weight on the side of his ankle and this is the one thing you don’t wanna see. And when you are going with all that speed, with the size and the weight behind it, I mean who know's what happened, if he tore something, if he fractured something, its difficult to say. Immediately it did not look good though," Rubin added.
The German will most probably have a long road to recovery, and will not be able to compete for a few weeks or maybe even months.
"Very tough and very sad, he was playing an unbelievable tournament" - Nadal reflects on Zverevs unfortunate injury
When Zverev hit the deck, Nadal immediately went over to check on the German. Their tenth career meeting was on its way to becoming an all-time French Open classic, before it had to be cut short.
Nadal did not have much to say about his win in his post-match interview, but reflected on Zverev's injury.
"Very tough and very sad for him. Honestly, he was playing an unbelievable tournament. I know how much he is fighting to win a Grand Slam, but at the moment he is very unlucky. The only thing that I am sure is that he is going to win not one [Grand Slam] but much more than one, so I wish him all the very best," Rafael Nadal said.