'Seemed impossible!' - Rafael Nadal stuns crowd and Alexander Zverev with outrageous point at French Open

Published 03/06/2022 at 15:13 GMT

Nothing is impossible for Rafael Nadal, and it proved that yet again with two shots in one rally that defied belief in his French Open semi-final clash with Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros. At a crucial moment at set points down against the German third seed in the opening set tie-break, Nadal produced a point of staggering genius and athleticism that left the fans and his opponent stunned.

Watch incredible Nadal winner that 'seemed impossible' against Zverev

Rafael Nadal was struggling for much of the opening set of his huge French Open semi-final clash with Alexander Zverev but came up with some magic when he had to.

The 13-time champion at Roland-Garros, who is seeking a remarkable second successive Grand Slam to move to a staggering 22 major singles titles after his triumph at the Australian Open, watched on as Zverev dominated the early exchanges.

But under the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Nadal exploded to life at the business end of the set to break back at a crucial moment and then win the tie-break to stamp his authority on the match.

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No point was more impressive or significant than his incredible winner when appearing to be under the cosh and out of the rally at 6-4 down in the breaker to the German, who had two set points.

Nadal somehow managed to get a backhand back at full stretch to a huge Zverev groundstroke that appeared to be a winner, but even better was to follow seconds later.

The King of Clay, incredibly, then sprinted the width of the court to fling himself at a seemingly certain point-ender from Zverev and rip it cross-court for a totally outrageous winner of his own.

It was a staggering shot to follow another, and the third seed at the other end of the court was simply left to shrug, shake his head and process his disbelief.

Simon Reed, on commentary for Eurosport, reacted: “It seemed impossible to win that point!

"Zverev hammered it into the corner and still it wasn’t enough. He can’t blame himself for that [not winning the point].”

Miles Maclagan added: “On a couple of occasions, look where he [Nadal] is retrieving from. Some courts aren’t big enough to cover that sort of ground!"

A few games earlier when in control with a break to his name and the early advantage, Zverev suffered some bad luck as, while wearing a sweatband, his racquet suddenly slipped from his grasp at a crucial moment and fell to the ground as the ball skewed off to the side in a bizarre miss.

'There it goes!' - Watch Zverev's racquet slip out of his hand at crucial moment

It was hugely unfortunate for Zverev, having crafted the point and got himself into a strong position with Nadal left pretty stranded at the back of the court, but he would end up gifting the Spaniard a break point instead.

Nadal went on to win the set in a dramatic tie-break, but it could have all been so different had the racquet not slipped out of Zverev's hand.

Pre-match, Eurosport expert Mats Wilander hinted that Zverev might have just the right game to beat Nadal on his favourite court.

Wilander said on Eurosport: “His [Zverev's] first serve is maybe the biggest first serve in the men’s game right now.

"It is absolutely huge. If he has a high percentage, he will get free points. The high backhand, it reminds me so much of Robin Soderling, who obviously beat Rafa in 2009.

"We always talk about Zverev’s weakness at the baseline, the forehand down the line but he doesn’t have to hit a forehand down the line against Rafa as he can hit cross-court with a lot of topspin and set it up for his backhand.

"I think he has the perfect game to play against Rafa. Can he beat him? I believe he believes he can.”