Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He’s a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he’s also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.
He was then out of action for six or seven months. Rafael Nadal won his last French Open back then. Now they’re playing each other again in the first round, but a lot is different,” Mischa Zverev explained to Eurosport.
“Sascha [Alexander Zverev] is seeded and Rafa isn’t even in the top 100, which hasn’t been the case for more than 20 years. Everyone is asking me: Mischa, how will it turn out? What do you think?”
Despite Nadal being a 14-time champion at Roland Garros, Mischa Zverev appears confident that his brother will become only the third player in history to beat the Spaniard at the Paris major.
“I’ve always said that Sascha could and should have won it back then. And he will win it this time too, because Rafa has become a bit slower and his fitness is no longer the same,” claimed Mischa. “The shots may still be the same, but the big question is whether he can play them over five sets. I think the winner will be Zverev in the end and I hope it will be over in three sets.”
He continued, “Nevertheless, it will be a very tough match – perhaps not in terms of play, but emotionally, because it could also be Rafael Nadal’s very last match at the French Open.
“The crowd won’t really be able to decide whether they want to see a great match or simply Rafa on the Philippe-Chatrier once again. Both of them will go into the match with a lot of courage, with nervousness, but also with the strange feeling that the era of Rafael Nadal could come to an end on the red clay of Paris.”
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