Zverev retired after three hours on court when he fell on his ankle and was taken off court in a wheelchair. Nadal went off-court with his before the pair re-emerged to shake hands and paid tribute to the third seed in his in-court interview.
After the German’s freak injury retirement, his brother has thanked the 13-time champion for helping Zverev during the difficult scenes. “Rafa is a special person,” Mischa Zverev told Eurosport. “He can feel it and he understands it. It helps Sascha when Rafa talks to him.”
The Spaniard – who turned 36 today – has struggled with injury himself in the last three months, fracturing his rib in Indian Wells before his chronic foot injury came back to haunt him at the recent Rome Masters. And the elder Zverev brother said it was “important” for the world No 3 to hear from someone who had struggled in the past.
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The former world No 25 said: “You can’t compare that with anything. When you are injured like Sascha is now, a piece of your life is taken away from you for a certain time because you can’t walk, you can’t be on the tennis court.
“But there are much worse situations, much more serious problems in the world today. Losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament is the smallest problem. It’s not even a luxury problem, it’s pure luxury.”
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