Rafael Nadal’s opening-round loss at the French Open wasn’t without its moments of triumph and drama. Rafa’s trademark tenacity, fortitude, muscular shotmaking, and indomitable will were on regular display—they just weren’t on consistent display. Against a focused and on-point Alexander Zverev, occasional brilliance wasn’t enough, and—thanks largely to an unfortunate draw that had him face off against the tournament’s number-four seed in the first round—Nadal lost the match 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
Rafa had his chances, with multiple service breaks, breathtaking winners, and a close set-deciding tiebreak, but at the same time—barring the eternal possibility of the sort of five-set gut-wrenching upset that Nadal in his prime wielded as a calling card—Zverev seemed to be on the kind of glide path that the very pro-Rafa crowd at Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris (which included Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Iga Swiatek) feared.
Will we ever see him play at Roland-Garros again? In the weeks leading up to the tournament, it seemed a fait accompli that this would be his last go-round at the French, if not the capstone match of his entire career—a career that saw him develop into the greatest player ever to dominate a single surface (clay) or a single tournament (the French, which he won a record 14 times), en route to becoming one of the greatest players to ever play the game of tennis. (He’s won 22 Grand Slams, second only to Djokovic’s 24.) Just how dominant has Rafa been on the terre battue of Roland-Garros? In one statistic: today’s loss to Zverev was just his fourth loss here in his career. (After the match, Coco Gauff—who cruised to a win in her first-round match—gushed about Nadal: “Everything about him—I think his aura is one of one, and something that will never happen again in this sport.”)
Yet Nadal seems to be leaving the door open—both for his continued play on the tour and for, perhaps, a return to the French. His comments to the crowd after today’s match left that out there as a possibility.
“It’s difficult for me to talk,” he began, tentatively. “I don’t know if it’s the last time I’m going to be in front of you, I’m not 100% sure. The feelings I have today are difficult to describe in words, but the feeling of love from the people here, in the place I love the most, is incredible.” Then, after wishing Zverev good luck in the rest of the tournament, he went on.
“I have been going through a very tough two years in terms of injury—and I went through this process with the dream of being back at Roland-Garros. [Today] I had my chances, but it was not enough. For me is difficult to say what’s going on in the future. There’s probably a big percentage that I won’t be back, but I can’t say 100%. I’m enjoying traveling with the family, and the body is feeling a lot better than two months ago”—at this, the camera cut away to a shot of Alcaraz smiling broadly and clapping with enthusiasm. “Maybe in two months I say enough, but it’s not something I feel yet. I hope to be back on this court in the Olympics. The feelings that you made me feel here are just unforgettable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope to see you again—but I don’t know.”
