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Nadal seeks to treat himself to his fourteenth final at Roland Garros

MADRID, 2 Jun.

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Nadal seeks to treat himself to his fourteenth final at Roland Garros

MADRID, 2 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal will seek to give himself a new final at Roland Garros this Friday, the fourteenth of his sports career, and give himself the opportunity to add the same number of titles on the Parisian red clay and raise his 'Grand Slams' counter to 22 , although the German Alexander Zverev appears in front, ready to embitter national tennis again.

The one from Manacor will celebrate his 36th birthday the day he will try to extend his legend even more in the Philippe-Chatrier, his 'garden of red clay', where they can only boast of having won the Serbian Novak Djokovic, on two occasions and the only one to close him once the passage to a final, and the Swedish Robin Soderling, back in 2009.

The other 13 attempts ended in victory for the 13-time champion, who arrives in high spirits and with a more optimistic message than the one he launched before his quarterfinal match against Djokovic. Then he complained about the possibility of playing at night what could be his "last" match of his career in the tournament, but neither the night nor his foot prevented him from signing a great match against the number one in the world and current champion, at which he beat in four sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4)).

Nadal surely displayed his best tennis against 'Nole', especially in the final stretch of the fourth quarter when he was down 5-2 and knows that he will need a similar performance to get rid of Zverev, also buoyed in his morale after avoiding the Spanish semifinal by defeating Carlos Alcaraz (6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7)) with a very firm game that deactivated the Murcian.

However, the one from Hamburg, who is looking for his second 'Grand Slam' final after losing in 2020 in New York to Dominic Thiem, knows that his young rival has nothing to do with the Balearic, much more expert in these matters and who always gives a plus when he plays for Philippe-Chatrier.

"There's something here that makes him play 30 percent better, just being here on this court. He comes out and suddenly his forehand is 12 mph faster and he moves as light as a feather. There's no bigger job to play against Rafa in the Chatrier", confessed the number three in the world, who if he won his first 'Grand Slam' would become the new leader of the ranking.

And Nadal, who this time will play in the sun and heat, will need, in addition to his foot to continue giving him respite, that his shots from the baseline be as aggressive and precise as against Djokovic, especially a 'drive' that worked very well for him . Against the German, the Spanish player will undoubtedly return to seek that dominance that his right hand exerts.

Zverev may lack experience, but he has 19 titles to his credit and on the current European tour on clay he made the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Rome, and the final in Madrid. In addition, on the German's bench is the Spanish Davis Cup captain, Sergi Bruguera. Nadal amassed 57 winners against Djokovic on Tuesday, a different opponent than Zverev, who has as his best weapons a serve that can also give him control and a two-handed backhand with which he dominated Alcaraz.

The two players will face each other for the first time in the Parisian 'great' and for the first time in 2022. In total, they have played nine times, with a favorable balance to the Spanish of 6-3, with 4-1 counting only the played on clay, with Zverev taking the 2021 duel at the Mutua Madrid Open by a double 6-4 in a Caja Mágica where the altitude usually favors him.