2023-05-29 21:46:01
Friday June 3, 2022. In the semi-final of “his” Roland-Garros, against the German Alexander Zverev, Rafael Nadal is on the verge of a precipice, defeat and elimination. “I was in survival mode,” he said. The King of the Earth wins the first round in a tie-break. After three hours of play – 93 minutes for the first round! -, the German is in the lead in the second set (6-5). Suddenly, from the baseline, he collapses.
On a forehand from Rafa, his right foot crashes into the ground, his ankle turns and not just a little. Carlos Alcaraz’s faller in the previous round, the Olympic champion in Tokyo screams in pain, Nadal worries, the whole stadium too. Three ligaments in his joint are torn. He leaves the Philippe-Chatrier court in tears and in a wheelchair, an extremely rare image. Even today, these images he does not want to see, too painful. This June 3, Zverev leaves the way open to the Spaniard for a 14th coronation.
“It might not have changed anything, but I was playing the tennis of my life”
“I thought I could beat Rafa on son short that day, said the German once recovered from his emotions. Rafa remains the greatest player to have played on this surface. We don’t know how it would have ended. I might have lost, even without my injury. Maybe it wouldn’t have changed anything but I was playing the tennis of my life on clay. At a minimum, I felt like I was competing with him and this could be my moment. »
Bad luck tells him no and sends him to the operating table to straighten his ankle. He takes advantage of his convalescence to announce that he has suffered from diabetes since his childhood and sets up an association to help children affected by this disease.
“For two months, I was unable to set foot on the ground. I had to relearn to walk, to run, to move. So many things that can possibly be used to play tennis » It can indeed. Technically unemployed, the US Open finalist in 2021 spends his time as best he can: “I tried to get into the kitchen, but I’m not very good at it. I know my limits. I could have taken the opportunity to learn a new foreign language, but I didn’t have the courage. »
He returns to Paris where Medvedev awaits him in the quarter-finals
The circuit lives without him for seven months. World number 3 at the time of his injury, Alexander Zverev takes up the racket for the Australian Open in January. Semi-finalist in 2020, he does not pass two rounds. The sensations are slow to return, the pain is still nestled somewhere, ready to wake up.
His head thinks about it every time he moves. “When you’ve been away for so long, there’s always something else to worry about,” he said. Your muscles react differently. The body must get used to it, rebalance itself. I had small problems with the hip for example. »
The double winner of the Masters (2018, 2021) becomes a “real” tennis player again with the good weather. The train having advanced without him during his injury, he arrived at Roland-Garros with the 27th rank at the ATP. Since his recovery, he has only played 30 games (16 wins, 14 losses) without ever having beaten any player ranked higher than him. He fell twice in the round of 16 in Monte-Carlo then Madrid, against Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz.
This Tuesday, May 30, for the reunion with the land of his misfortunes, the very recent semi-finalist in Geneva has an easy start. The South African Lloyd Harris (No. 294) should allow him to tame his possible anxieties without worry.
His program quickly looks more complicated. In the quarter-finals and if all goes well by then, he is likely to find Medvedev, the world number 2, on the other side of the net. “I just wish I could play my best tennis again,” he told the JDD this May 29. Having fun, having fun with the public. What happened last year, of course I wish it had never happened, but you can’t control these things. So when I step forward again on the Philippe-Chatrier court, it will be a very special moment. »
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