Alexander Zverev keeps his predictions and reaches his fourth consecutive semi-final at Roland Garros, the eighth in his career in slams, and as in 2023 his opponent will be Casper Ruud. Unlike last year, however, the German is no longer the one still half convalescent and sometimes limping post-injury in Paris in 2022, but is a player who has found his physical form again, and this is demonstrated by the fact that he has just won the Internationals From Rome. In 2024 he climbed the rankings (he is now number 4) and also in Australia he had arrived among the magnificent four.
amnesia
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Of course, this does not mean that he has overcome all his problems, especially his old mental problems. Even this evening, in the quarter-final in Paris against the willing and talented Alex de Minaur, the match could have ended much earlier (6-4 7-6 (5) 6-4 the final result), but the German extended the competitive life of the Australian with the usual amnesias at the service in the moments that count. He did it in the second set, for example, which ended in a tie break after going ahead in the set, with Sasha actually having to thank his opponent for having squandered a 4-0 lead. Even in the third set Zverev went to serve at 5-3 but nothing, he got broken there too with a chilling turn of serve, only to make up for it in the next one and take home the match. The German would have everything, especially on clay, if not to dominate to be even more competitive at the highest levels, but he is never really lucid in the moments that count. He wins, of course he wins, because he is an extraordinary player who Mother Nature has endowed with talent (except in the volley game), but unlike Sinner, for example, he really doesn’t have the coolness when it comes to the point, and between double faults and wrong choices often throw away already won games. In tonight’s tie break, for example, the points that gave him the second set were truly of rare beauty. Cross and delight, little to do.
balance
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With Casper Ruud they are 2-2 in direct matches, with the Norwegian having won the last two matches: Zverev is probably the favourite, but it could be an even more balanced semi-final than the one between Jannik and Alcaraz.
