With a monstrous 3: 110 balance on clay in Paris and after a big show on the head of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal will face tomorrow (Friday) at 15:45 the semi-finals of the Roland Garros. This will be the King of Clay’s 15th appearance in this class, of which he went on to win no less than 13 wins and in fact also to turn the glittering competition into his home ground.
Last year, however, it was Novak who stripped Nadal of the crown in Paris, and now that both the world number one has finished his way and his successor, Carlos Alcras, is out, he will try to do what he knows best in history – win on clay, twice more. Whoever dreams of interrupting him on the way is Alexander Zebrav, the German who has never won a major title and usually suffocates in Grand Slam tournaments, but this time will come with excellent momentum after a crushing victory over the promising Alcras.
Meanwhile, the bull from Mallorca, who is celebrating his 36th birthday and exactly on the day of the semi-final, said: “If I do not play well and lose in this semi-final, it will not be because I am not focused or I got to the game badly. I’m not a player who gets too excited and experiences ups and downs, I’m very stable, at least mentally. I have the necessary experience. I had a lot of fun, but now the game against Djokovic is already behind me, I’m all focused only on the semi-finals. “
And there is also the issue of first place in the world. Following the very unimpressive year that Novak Djokovic is going through, Alexander Zebrav can suddenly and without prior preparation jump from third place to the top of the rankings and for the first time in his career. How can this happen? Well, he “overall” should win the Grand Slam in Paris, which will also be the first of his career.
If Alexander advances to the final and loses he will at least rise to second place in the table next Monday, but if he fails against the clay king and finishes his way again in the semi-finals, as last year it should be noted, the German will remain in third place. As you may recall, last year Zebrav was defeated by his great rival, Stefanos Tsitsipas, but this time and especially after winning gold in Tokyo, he hopes that on the mental side too he will make the leap and break the psychological barrier, because he has qualities, and in abundance.
Alexander Zebrav (Reuters)What about the history between the two? Nadal won the last meeting last year on clay in Rome, when Zebrav celebrated a week ago as part of the Madrid tournament. In total the Spaniard has won six games and is ranked third in the world in three. By the way, only one was in the Grand Slam and he was somewhere in Australia 2017, with Rafa’s victory over the young German. So Nadal will indeed celebrate a birthday, but the last thing Zebra should give him are these gifts in the form of uncommitted mistakes and double faults.