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By Chris Oddo | Monday May 21, 2018


Count King of Clay Rafael Nadal among those betting on a breakthrough for Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the majors. At 21, the three-time Masters 1000 titlist has been anything but a master at the Grand Slam level. Zverev owns a 0-7 lifetime record against the Top 50 at the majors and he has yet to reach a quarterfinal in 11 appearances.

More: Nadal Back at No.1 for the Sixth Time

In total, he's 14-11 overall at the majors with only one trip to the second week and a bevy of head-scratching losses.

But don’t count on that streak lasting much longer said Nadal not too long after he defeated Zverev in three sets to lift his eighth Rome title on Sunday.

“If he’s not playing well in Grand Slams in the next two years, you can come back to me and say 'You were wrong,’” Nadal told an Italian reporter on Sunday after the final. “I believe it’s going to be a different story. That’s my feeling: Tennis is tennis. Doesn’t matter best-of-three, best-of-five; and playing best-of-five is a bigger advantage for the best players, and Sascha is one of the best players, so it’s a big advantage for him, too.”

It certainly makes sense that the rangy, powerful German would begin to make hay at the majors, and next week at Roland Garros could be the turning point. Zverev just finished a run of 13 consecutive wins in May, and if the rains hadn’t come on Sunday he might have had the gumption to power past Nadal in what would have been one of the biggest upsets of the tennis season.

"It's impossible to don't have a great result in Grand Slam when you have the level that he has," Nadal added. "It's just time."

Zverev can take solace in the fact that he pushed Nadal like no other player at Rome, but in the end he was left to feel the stinging disappointment of how he handled the conclusion of the final after the rain delay.

“He came out way faster and played much more aggressive than I did,” Zverev said of dropping the final five games to Nadal, all which were concluded after the rain interrupted play in Rome (Nadal won all four games after the second rain delay, which last 50 minutes). “And the fatigue I had over the last—because of over the last few weeks, because of the break, it took me a very long time to get activated again and to get going. Obviously it wasn’t enough time.”

If Zverev can get his body in good enough shape in a week’s time, one has to like his chances of breaking his Slam hex at Roland Garros next week, and if he makes it deep he could even benefit from all the hard work he has done thus far in May—his current ranking of No.3 in the world means that he’ll take the No.2 seed at Roland Garros and won’t have to face Nadal until the final.

“I think this week is the most, actually, satisfying,” said Zverev, who spent much of this tournament playing late into the night. “Because even when I was tired, still found a way against great players...And you know, I was not far away from beating Rafa on a clay court in a Masters final. So I guess I can take that to Paris.”

 

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