Tennis Briefing: How will Rafael Nadal feel? What was behind Zverev and Fils’ handshake?
Welcome to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletics will tell the story behind the stories of the past week on the track.
This week the transition from the grass of Wimbledon to the clay of Roland Garros for the Olympics began in earnest, with players trying to find their feet on the Parisian cover the earth’s surface. After six weeks of sliding and gliding, it’s time to slide again.
Rafael Nadal was left exhausted during his first run to a final since 2022; there were double bounces and cold handshakes; a new mixed grass event – at Wimbledon – and more.
If you would like to follow our tennis coverage, click here.
Is this progress for Rafael Nadal?
By losing 6-3, 6-2 to Portuguese Nuno Borges in Bastad, Sweden, Rafael Nadal achieved his best result at an ATP tournament since the summer of 2022. He defeated Casper Ruud in three sets to win his 14th French Open title.
To reach the final against Borges, Nadal won two straight three-set matches, one of which was a four-hour grind against fellow clay-court specialist Mariano Navone of Argentina. Nadal surrendered a 5-2 lead in the deciding set and said he was “alive” after the kind of victory that had seemed unlikely for the duration of his return to tennis.
The physical strength he has been able to show will be encouraging, but after his body has been a limiting factor for so long, there were signs in Sweden that his real tennis might replace it as that limiting factor. The narrow three-set defeat to Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open was a world of difference from the final against Borges, in which Nadal never managed to trouble his opponent.
Nadal’s path to the final in Bastad was based more on endurance than dominance (Adam Ihse/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
During his comeback, which began in April at the Banc Sabadell Open in Barcelona, Nadal spoke about how “good feelings” in his body are key, but after this match his focus was mainly on his level.
“I had a good feeling in training, but I couldn’t transfer that to the matches,” he said at a post-match press conference.
“The level of play was far from what I had in training. I have to play much better to be competitive.”
This is the crux of the matter for the Spaniard. At some point, the 22-time Grand Slam champion will have to take on the world number 161 he is now, head-on. Players at that ranking don’t usually win titles, reach finals or blow players away on court. For now, Nadal seems to have figured out the fitness part of the dance he’s undergoing on his comeback. Then comes the pride.
GO DEEPER
Ghosts of clay courts past: Rafael Nadal’s comeback is actually about his legacy
Those are the breaks
A tale of two finals. In a heavyweight clash between Zheng Qinwen and Karolina Muchova in Palermo, there were 27 break points in 28 service games played. Muchova, continuing her comeback from injury, saved 63 percent of the break points she faced; Zheng only 37.5 percent.
The winner? Zheng, as Muchova saved 63 percent of her 19 break points, which still means she was broken seven times in 14 service games, compared to five breaks of Zheng’s serve. The top seed defeated the No. 2 seed 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, and defended the 250 title in Palermo for the third time in her career.
The top favorite was established through a battle of the breaks (Gabriele Maricchiolo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In Hamburg it was a different story — with a forearm serve and an icy handshake. Alexander Zverev and Arthur Fils broke each other’s serve only once, Fils taking a quarter of his chances and Zverev five percent. He had 22 break points and won one. One of the points he lost looked like this:
Fils dominated the deciding tiebreak, winning 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1), leading to a cold handshake at the net from the German. “Making one break point out of 22 doesn’t necessarily help,” Zverev said at the opening of his press conference. He’s right.
Will the double-bounce drama accelerate the video’s reruns?
Zverev joined Daniil Medvedev (Wimbledon) and Coco Gauff (French Open) in calling for more technology in tennis after a set point went against him earlier in the tournament. Facing Frenchman Hugo Gaston, Zverev hit a short backhand smash when he was a set down. Gaston dug the ball up, but it appeared to bounce twice, despite the umpire not calling it that. Gaston promptly passed Zverev to win the point, and the German was unfazed.
After the match, Zverev paraphrased a now-familiar string of pleasantries after an apparent refereeing error: It was bad; it shouldn’t have happened; but referees are human, so why not let technology decide? Whether the sport will listen is another question.
More changes are coming to the Rhode Island tennis calendar
The Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, will become a mixed ATP Challenger and WTA 125 event starting in 2025. The tournament will no longer be the tour-level ATP 250 event that has been held at the Tennis Hall of Fame since 1976. The tournament will also move from its current location the week after Wimbledon to the second week of the Grand Slam, shortening the already short grass-court season by another week.
GO DEEPER
How the battle to improve the tennis calendar risks destroying its soul
It joins London’s Queen’s Club in becoming a mixed event: that tournament will be both an ATP- and WTA 500-level tournament from 2025. American Marcos Giron won the last instalment of Newport’s current guise, beating compatriot Alex Michelsen in three sets for his first ATP title. The decision to reclassify the event came in late 2023, when the ATP opted to remove Atlanta (whose latest edition kicked off today, Monday 22 July) and Lyon from the calendar, promoting ATP 250 events in Dallas, Doha and Munich to the 500 level.
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP value:
🏆 Arthur Fils extended Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1) to win the Hamburg Open (500) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Fils’ first ATP 500 title.
🏆 Nuno Borges extended Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 to win the Nordea Open (250) in Bastad, Sweden. It is the Portuguese’s first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Marcos Giron extended Alex Michelsen 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 to win the Hall of Fame Open (250) in Newport, Rhode Island USA. It is the American’s first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Matteo Berrettini extended Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-1 to win the Swiss Open (250) in Gstaad, Switzerland. It is the ninth ATP Tour title for the Italian.
🎾 WTA class:
🏆 Zheng Qinwen extended Karolina Muchova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to win the Palermo Ladies Open (250) in Palermo, Italy. It is her third WTA Tour title.
🏆 Diana Schnaider extended Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-4 to win the Hungarian Grand Prix (250) in Budapest, Hungary. It is Shnaider’s first clay-court title, meaning she has now won a WTA title on all three surfaces.
📈📉 On the way up / On the road to success
📈 Diana Shnaider rises five places, from No. 28 to No. 23, her highest ranking to date.
📈 Arthur Fils rises eight places, from No. 28 to No. 20, his highest ranking to date.
📈 Karolina Muchova returns to the top 30, rising six places from number 35 to number 29.
📈 Rafael Nadal rises 100 places, from 261st to 161st.
📉 Adrian Mannarino drops out of the top 30, dropping seven places from #25 to #32.
📉 In one of the few weeks she hasn’t reached a WTA final in recent times, Mayar Sherif drops 20 places, from 67th to 87th.
📅 Coming Soon
🎾 ATP value:
📍 Umag, Croatia: Croatia Open Umag (250) with Andrey Rublev, Tomas Machac, Jakub Mensik, Lorenzo Musetti
📍 Atlanta: Atlanta Open Open (250) with Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Reilly Opelka, Jerry Shang
📍 Kitzbuhel, Austria: Generali Open (250) with Dominic Thiem, Alejandro Tabilo, Matteo Berrettini, Sebastian Baez
🎾 WTA class:
📍 Prague: Prague Open (250) with Linda Noskova, Katerina Siniakova, Eva Lys, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
📍 Iasi, Romania: Iasi Open (250) with Mirra Andreeva, Olga Danilovic, Jaqueline Cristian, Elina Avanesyan
Let us know in the comments what you noticed this week as the tours continue.
(Top photo: Adam Ihse/TT’/AFP via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)
