Rafael Nadal says his French Open semi-final against Alexander Zverev will be a ‘big challenge’

Rafael Nadal says he will need to summon all his determination and focus to overcome Alexander Zverev in the French Open semi-finals.

The winner of that encounter will face either Casper Ruud or Marin Cilic in Sunday’s final.

Speaking following his Thursday practice session, Nadal said: “The first thing I need to do is play very, very well.

“He’s [Zverev] a great player, one of the best in the world without a doubt and he has a lot of great things so the only way to keep having chances to go through is to play with the right determination from the beginning to the end and just be focused all the time.

“I’m excited to be in the semi-final. I know I had a good victory in the quarter-final but I have another big challenge coming.

“Zverev is playing great and he had a good clay-court season. He beat [Carlos] Alcaraz because he did a lot of things well so I need to play my 100% again.”

“I am confident and I trust I can return [to Roland-Garros],” the 35-year-old said.

“I accept things as they come, I have no intention of making it seem like a farewell.

“We keep working to find a solution to my foot injury. My intention is to return to Roland-Garros next year.”

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