Featured Columnist IVMay 27, 2024
Mateo Villalba/Getty Images
If this is indeed Rafael Nadal’s last French Open, he wasn’t going down without a fight.
The 14-time champion lost 3-6, 6-7(5), 3-6 to fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev on Monday.
Tennis Channel @TennisChannel
Through to the second round ⏩
Alexander Zverev defeats Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 as the crowd gets on their feet for the 14-time champion. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/WU287EUUOo
The 37-year-old has played down the idea of bidding adieu to Roland-Garros this summer, but that didn’t fully remove the sense a historic chapter for men’s tennis is drawing to a close.
Tournament organizers didn’t do Nadal any favors, making him an unseeded player and pairing him with Zverev straight out of the gate.
Things didn’t look good for the southpaw early on. He dropped serve in the opening game of the match and had nine unforced errors to just five winners in the first set.
Nadal bounced back in the second and took a 5-3 lead thanks to a service break in the fifth game. Fans were seeing shades of his old self and gaining some hope an instant classic was in store.
Roland-Garros @rolandgarros
Pumped 🆙#RolandGarros @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/7Q78ZlySnW
That belief steadily waned as Zverev won the next four games and eventually took the set in the tiebreaker.
With Nadal down two sets to none, the question became less about whether he could pull off the upset and instead about if his last French Open ever would end in a first-round, straight-set loss.
For most fans, the occasion was an opportunity to enjoy a legendary star one more time.
Dan Wolken @DanWolken
Nadal looks like he’s almost out of gas, has nothing at all on his serve and he’s still coming up with some brilliant stuff. Fighting against the dying of th
