[Sport] Rafa Nadal and the two faces of Paris: the Roland Garros champion falls to Zverev in Bercy

[#Steeven.™]

Paris has two faces for Rafael Nadal. The land of the Philippe Chatrier de Roland Garros, in which he has been crowned 13 times, has nothing to do with the hard surface of the Bercy multipurpose where he has not been seen to win. The Spaniard, the first favorite of the draw, knelt today against Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the last Masters 1,000 on the calendar with a score of 6-4 and 7-5. It all ended with a long right, a summary of what happened.

Zverev is at the tennis level one step ahead of Feliciano López and Pablo Carreño on hard court under cover. That is why the German did take advantage of the initial income acquired against Nadal to become great and print a ball rhythm almost impossible to follow.

Sascha made his first 'break' in the third later and scored it blank. Rafa stood before the most difficult thing: breaking the serve of one of the biggest bombers on the circuit to stay alive in the opening round.

The development of the game was going very fast and that only favored David Ferrer's pupil. In 14 minutes he was already dominating 3-1. The script recalled the last precedent between the two in the 'round robin' of the 2019 Masters Cup. The world number two was sent missiles from the other side of the net and he was powerless to find a solution to it.

Zverev was intractable on serve to the point of not giving the impression of sweating. Rafa had to do something to change the dynamics and he started to go higher on the volley. If he's only won 92 of his 1,002 indoor games, it's for a reason.

Their adversaries grow up in that habitat, the same one where the London Masters Cup will be held from 15 to 22 November. It is the only great title missing from the manacorí's record. In fact, to find the last and only Nadal trophy in Bercy conditions, you have to go back to Madrid 2005.

The champion of 20 majors claimed more remainder at the conclusion of the quarters with Carreño. He did not see them coming with the tall German tennis player, who has become serious since his ex-partner has accused him of mistreatment and of not wanting to know anything about him despite expecting a child.

 

Surface change
Zverev has chained 12 wins, double champion of Cologne, since he said goodbye in the round of 16 at Roland Garros with Jannik Sinner. The difference is that it was played there on land. On the fast track, Sascha is capable of anything. He showed it at the US Open, where he was at the gates of his first 'Grand Slam'. Not forgetting that he was an ATP master in the 2018 edition.

The German conceded two break balls in the sixth game of the second heat. He neutralized them as if nothing had happened while his opponent struck the string of his racket. Nadal overcame a 4-2 and 0-40 against to place a favorable 5-4. He couldn't do more and has one last effort left in London. The final awaits Sascha tomorrow with Daniil Medvedev and the motivation of having mathematical options to pass Roger Federer before the conclusion of the course.

 

Djokovic maintains the advantage
The Spanish misstep favors Novak Djokovic and his aspirations to secure number one until next March 8, the day on which he would exceed the 310 weeks of leadership of Roger Federer. The Serbian will maintain the income of 1,980 points with respect to his most immediate follower and will increase it before reaching the teachers' appointment to 2,180. And it is that the points of the last edition will be subtracted: 400 in the case of the Balearic and 200 for the Serbian.