Alexander Zverev is back in the French Open final after defeating Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday afternoon. The 2024 Roland Garros runner-up will play in his fourth Grand Slam title match on Sunday, once again looking for an elusive first trophy.
Zverev has been the dominant player in the field throughout this fortnight; Mensik was only the second opponent to take even one set off the third-ranked German.
“Today definitely was the most difficult match (of the tournament)” Zverev assessed. “He’s been playing fantastic tennis. I mean, the way he beat the other players was incredible. Yeah, even when there was some difficult moments when I lost the third set, I feel like I managed (it) well. I came back and played some good tennis, so I’m happy about that.”
It will be Zverev vs. Flavio Cobolli in the final after the all-Italian second semifinal never happened. Matteo Arnaldi was forced to withdraw due to illness, handing his compatriot a walkover.
“It’s difficult to be here,” Arnaldi said at this press conference. “It’s not what I wanted to do, but last night I started to feel not very well. Yesterday I was feeling okay; I came here to practice. I did everything I had to do, and I was feeling fine. Then I had dinner. I started to feel so-so with my stomach. I was, like, ‘All right, just didn’t digest very well.’
“But then I woke up at 1:00 a.m. and I started vomiting, and I wasn’t feeling the best. Then I tried to sleep; I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6:00, 7:00 a.m. I vomited again. This time was pretty bad. We called the doctor in the room; he came, gave me some stuff. I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner or something like that, but then throughout the day I couldn’t eat. Every time we did something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom.
“So it’s tough. It’s tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually very good. To have to withdraw from the first slam semifinal is not something that you wish [on] anybody.”
A free pass for Cobolli certainly isn’t a bad thing. But is it the best thing? Only time will tell.
“I think I will be ready for the final,” the world No. 14 commented. “I also know that I will be fresh. Maybe it helped; maybe not. I (will) tell you after the final.”