Rafael Nadal at the French Open: Not a favorite today, but tomorrow?
Rafael Nadal (ATP No. 5) has already won the French Open 13 times - and is actually always the favorite when it comes to Paris. This time he comes up with a question mark.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 21, 2022, 07:41 pm
In general, one hears it again and again from his colleagues, it is not possible to bet against Rafael Nadal in Paris. No wonder: The 35-year-old has already triumphed 13 times in Roland Garros. In years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Nadal's match record: 105 wins, 3 losses. And all of them when the "bull from Manacor" wasn't in full possession of his strength.
Alexander Zverev put it this way in the run-up to the 2022 French Open: "Suddenly his forehand is 20 miles faster and he moves more lightly. There's something about this place that makes him 30 percent better."
However, the Spaniard himself did not want to sign it like that: He had also won a lot in Barcelona, Rome and Monte Carlo, so the location is not so important. "My level on clay has been very high for a long time."
Rafael Nadal: Foot problems are always there
This year Nadal arrives again with question marks. In Australia, he miraculously triumphed after a long break, before breaking his ribs in Indian Wells. And when he had just felt the ball better in Rome, the damn foot reported again, the third set in the round of 16 against Denis Shapovalov was difficult for fans to bear. Even if Nadal gave the all-clear, so to speak: he was not injured, but a player who lives with an injury. Specifically: the Müller-Weiss syndrome, a degenerative bone disease in which the scaphoid of the foot deforms or regresses over time.
"It looks difficult today and it looks like there are players who are in better shape than me, without a doubt. But you never know what can happen in the next few days," Nadal said of his starting position in Paris. "The same thing happened in Australia and I put myself in a position to have a chance. And it's no different here."
Nadal: "There is nothing to regenerate"
"There was nothing to regenerate," Nadal explained regarding his foot. But it feels better now. "What happened in Rome happens more often in training." Nadal had already declared in Rome that he would not be able to train for many days in a row, precisely because of his problems. The pain is always there, it won't go away. The question is rather that of intensity, whether the pain is too great to give him enough chances. "I live with that every day, so it's nothing new to me, no surprise."
Of course, Nadal does not see himself as a favorite for victory in Paris, "not at all", as he said. "I'm one of the candidates." Then he specified: "Today, on Friday, I'm not the favorite. But you know how it can develop."
Here the individual tableau in Roland-Garros
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