Rafael Nadal will play his 19th Roland Garros this year, hoping to achieve something beautiful, as unlikely as it is.
The Spaniard has won Roland Garros 14 times, which is absolutely ridiculous considering that he played at the event 18 times. His all-time record at the event, 112-3, shows just how good he's been in Paris.
He hasn't been that good this year, with a few lackluster performances. It might not matter in the grand scheme of things, but very few would dare to dismiss Nadal as a potential threat at this year's event, even with his almost non-existent preparation.
The draw wasn't that favorable as he got Alexander Zverev in the first round, but the Spaniard hasn't lost hope. He hopes to achieve something beautiful this year, even though it looks rather unlikely.
"Yeah, I am having a good week of practices. I probably will say it’s the first week since I come back plaving tennis that I am able to run the proper way without having a lot of limitations. That's encouraging me."
"I mean, of course that doesn’t mean that I'm gonna be out there on Monday and I'm gonna play incredible, no? I think it’s going to be something very difficult to make that happen because I didn't have under my shoulders enough moments to play that highest level."
Beating Zverev would be a major undertaking, considering how well the German has played recently. He won the Italian Open a week ago, and he gave Nadal some trouble the last time they played in Paris.
Even so, Zverev cautioned against flying high because this is the last place where he would want to face Nadal. The Spaniard himself hopes to rediscover some of that old magic. He actually admitted to feeling optimistic about that, which differs from the brutal honesty we've gotten from him so far.
"But in some way this place is magical for me, no? So happened a lot of times things that was difficult to imagine. So if, in the bottom of my heart, I don't have any hope to have success here and to create a beautiful thing this year, I will not be here in front of you guys. So I still having the motivation and a small… at least a small hope to play well."
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