'I expect him to be at his absolute best,' Alexander Zverev previews his game against Rafael Nadal at 2024 Roland Garros

You are playing the statue. I mean, you're not playing the statue, you're playing the actual person. But you are playing Rafa Nadal. For me, in my mind, I'm going to play peak Rafa Nadal. That's what I expect him to be. I expect him to be at his absolute best. I expect him to play the best tennis he's played in a long time on this court. Alexander Zverev said about facing Rafael Nadal.

Alexander Zverev backs Rafael Nadal to pull off a repeat of 2022

Alexander Zverev delved deep into the discussion about Rafael Nadal‘s form as he backed the Spanish ace to pull off a repeat of 2022. The German said that there were similar discussions when he had failed to win any tournament leading into the 2022 French Open.

Zverev said that there were question marks about his form before the tournament but he proved everyone wrong and went on to win the title.

There's always been discussion. I mean, 2022 I remember he came into Roland Garros not winning Monte-Carlo, not winning Madrid, not winning Rome. He came into this tournament, everybody was like, ‘oh, he's a big question mark, he's this and that.’ He came and dominated the entire tournament. Alexander Zverev said in the pre-match press conference.

Notably, while Nadal did not win any tournament on clay before the Roland Garros, he faced Zverev in the semifinal of the Grand Slam tournament. However, as the German retired midway through the match due to a life-threatening injury, he advanced to the final and won the title beating Casper Ruud.

However, things are even more difficult this time around. Nadal has not played enough matches and in the limited number of matches he has played, the Spaniard has not looked in best shape. He suffered second-round exits at the Barcelona Open and Rome Masters while making it to the fourth round in Madrid.

Now, in the very first match at the 2024 Roland Garros will face an in-form Alexander Zverev who won the title in Rome. It will be interesting to see how the former World No. 1 tackles this challenge.