{"id":31596,"date":"2022-06-02T19:43:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T19:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears"},"modified":"2022-06-02T19:57:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T19:57:08","slug":"birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears","title":{"rendered":"Birthday boy Nadal eyes 14th French Open final despite future fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Rafael Nadal looks to celebrate his 36th birthday on Friday by reaching a 14th French Open final which by his own admission could be the last of his record-breaking career.<\/p>\n

Nadal, the 13-time champion, faces Germany’s Alexander Zverev but is clear his chronic, long-term foot injury has put him on borrowed time.<\/p>\n

“The last three months and a half for me, the only thing that I can say is haven’t been easy,” said the Spaniard after his epic four-set win over old rival Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

“But I have to keep going.”<\/p>\n

Nadal, chasing a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam title to move two in front of Djokovic and Roger Federer, is working constantly to find a cure for the foot issue.<\/p>\n

“If we are not able to find an improvement or a small solution, then it’s becoming super difficult for me.<\/p>\n

“I am just enjoying every day that I have the chance to be here, and without thinking much about what can happen in the future.<\/p>\n

Find solution<\/p>\n

“I’m going to keep fighting to find a solution, but for the moment, we haven’t.”<\/p>\n

Nadal’s win over defending champion and world number one Djokovic was the 110th of his 17-year Roland Garros career.<\/p>\n

He has had to dig deep into his resources to reach his 15th semi-final in the French capital<\/p>\n

It took him four hours and 21 minutes to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round in a tie which saw him stretched to five sets for only the third time at the tournament.<\/p>\n

Against Djokovic, he needed four hours and 12 minutes, saving two set points in the fourth set to avoid another five-setter.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is the man responsible for two of Nadal’s three losses at the French Open.<\/p>\n

With his career-long rival out of the way, and world number two Daniil Medvedev and fourth-ranked 2021 runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated, Nadal remains favourite to lift the trophy on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Against Zverev, he boasts a 6-3 winning record, capturing four of the pair’s five clay court meetings.<\/p>\n

Zverev, 11 years younger than Nadal, is still searching for a maiden Slam title. He is into a second successive French Open semi-final.<\/p>\n

‘Supposed to win’<\/p>\n

He defeated teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals but had to save a match point in a five-set win over Argentina’s Sebastian Baez in the second round.<\/p>\n

He has also never defeated Nadal or Djokovic at the majors.<\/p>\n

“I’m not 20 or 21 years old anymore; I’m 25. I am at the stage where I want to win, I’m at the stage where I’m supposed to win,” admitted the third seed.<\/p>\n

In Friday’s other semi-final, Marin Cilic takes on Casper Ruud with both men having made the semi-finals at Roland Garros for the first time.<\/p>\n

Cilic, 33, and the 2014 US Open champion, is only the fifth active player along with Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to have reached the semi-finals of all four Slams.<\/p>\n

Cilic, ranked 23 in the world, is in his first semi-final at the majors since 2018 when he was runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Ruud is the first Norwegian man ever to make the last four of a Slam with the eighth-ranked 23-year-old one of the form players on clay.<\/p>\n

His testy quarter-final win over 19-year-old Holger Rune was his 65th on clay since the 2020 season. Seven of his eight titles have come on clay.<\/p>\n

Ruud has a 2-0 edge over Cilic, including their only meeting on the surface in Rome.<\/p>\n

Former world number three Cilic knocked out Medvedev in straight sets in the fourth round, without facing a break point, and seventh-ranked Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals on the back of 33 aces and 88 winners.<\/p>\n

Only two of his 20 career titles have come on clay courts, the most recent of which was at Istanbul in 2017.<\/p>\n

Despite his surprise run to the last-four, where he is comfortably the lowest seed left, Cilic is content to maintain a low profile.<\/p>\n

“I really don’t mind being under the highlights. I’m just trying to use my opportunities as much as I can during my career every day, every match to give my best,” he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Rafael Nadal looks to celebrate his 36th birthday on Friday by reaching a 14th French Open final which by his own admission could be the last of his record-breaking career. Nadal, the 13-time champion, faces Germany’s Alexander Zverev but is clear his chronic, long-term foot injury has put him on borrowed time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[274,315,1716,2197,1715,275,1398],"class_list":["post-31596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-french-open","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roland-garros","tag-south-africa-2","tag-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nBirthday boy Nadal eyes 14th French Open final despite future fears - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal looks to celebrate his 36th birthday on Friday by reaching a 14th French Open final which by his own admiss ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Birthday boy Nadal eyes 14th French Open final despite future fears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal looks to celebrate his 36th birthday on Friday by reaching a 14th French Open final which by his own admiss ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-02T19:43:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-02T19:57:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_2-629915ef59fd8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Birthday boy Nadal eyes 14th French Open final despite future fears\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-02T19:43:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-02T19:57:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\"},\"wordCount\":724,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_2-629915ef59fd8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"french open\",\"rafael nadal\",\"roland garros\",\"South-Africa\",\"tennis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/birthday-boy-nadal-eyes-14th-french-open-final-despite-future-fears\",\"name\":\"Birthday boy Nadal eyes 14th French Open final despite future fears - 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