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. Nadal climbed what might have felt like the biggest summit of his Roland-Garros 2022 in the quarter-finals by beating great rival Novak Djokovic, but there seems no chance of the Spaniard easing off ahead of his last-four clash against the 25-year-old German.

Ad/> The winner of that encounter will face either Casper Ruud or Marin Cilic in Sunday's final. Roland-Garros'Beating Rafa at Roland-Garros toughest task in tennis' — Henman on Nadal v ZverevAN HOUR AGO 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. 'He is inspiring me in basically every aspect' — Swiatek lavishes praise on Nadal 'Don't give Rafa up for dead so soon' — Uncle Toni says foolish to write off Nadal 'This could be his last match at Roland-Garros' — Wilander and Corretja on Nadal »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." Speculation has been rife that this year could prove to be Nadal's final appearance at Roland-Garros following uncertainty around the Spaniard's chronic foot condition. But Nadal told Spanish outlet TVE something to the contrary on the