Alexander Zverev had Nadal theory at French Open before horror injury

Alexander Zverev has revealed that he thought he could defeat Rafael Nadal and win the French Open last year before getting injured in their semi-final match. The world No 16 snapped multiple ligaments in his ankle and was unable to play for the rest of the season. Zverev is now back in his first semi-final since the horror injury at this week’s Dubai Championships.

Zverev is enjoying the best tournament of his comeback from injury so far, reaching the last four at the ATP 500 in Dubai. Before this week, the German had gone 3-6 in matches for the season – including an opening defeat to Andy Murray in Doha last week.

But the 25-year-old is starting to show signs of his old form as he defeated Lorenzo Sonego 7-5 6-4 on Thursday to advance to the semi-final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in what is the fifth tournament of his comeback. Zverev was arguably at his peak when he suffered a freak injury at last year’s French Open, going down screaming and needing a wheelchair to leave the court.

He was able to reach a career-high of No 2 in the world after the tournament but didn’t play again in 2022 and has now admitted that he believed he could defeat ‘King of Clay’ Nadal in their semi-final match and go on to lift his first Grand Slam trophy before getting hurt mid-match. “I think 2021, the last six months of the season, was one of the best tennis that I ever played,” Zverev said on Thursday.

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“I lost three or four matches I think in six months. Yeah, that was a special time for me in a way. But last year during the French Open was the first time in my life where I went into matches, I went into the Alcaraz match, the Nadal match as well, and I thought ‘I can win the French Open and I’m going to win the French Open’.”

Zverev and Nadal had been playing for three hours when the German got injured but were just about to start a second set tiebreak with the Spaniard already leading by a set – showing the competitiveness of the match. And the 36-year-old progressed to the final as a result of Zverev’s retirement, winning a record-extending 14th French Open crown.

“Obviously I didn’t. Not only did I not win, I basically broke everything that I can in my ankle. So it was, yeah, a tough period,” the current world No 16 added. “But after an injury like that, I’m happy where I’m standing right now. I’m getting back. I’m playing some decent tennis this week. Hopefully this will continue.”

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Zverev will now face Andrey Rublev for a spot in the Dubai final, and holds a 5-0 winning record over the world No 6. The German was asked whether he wanted a rematch with Nadal in Paris after how close their battle was last year but Zverev shut the question down and had his full focus on his next opponent.

“Guys, we’re in Dubai,” he slammed back. “Let’s focus on Dubai because I’m in the semi-finals of a big tournament. We are in February. Roland Garros is end of May. There’s still very big tournaments ahead. Right now I’m not really thinking about Roland Garros. It’s not my thought process.”

Zverev added: “I’m playing the semi-finals of Dubai tomorrow either against world No 5 in Rublev or a very in-form Dutchman tomorrow. Right now my mind, that’s what is in my head, not how I will play in Roland Garros.”

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