On the 115 occasions that Rafael Nadal had previously stepped out to compete on the courts of Roland Garros, he had lost just three times. Across two decades, he had orchestrated one of the greatest eras of dominance in sporting history, pushing the art of clay court tennis to unimaginable heights. For so long, his success in Paris seemed so inevitable.
Now it may be over. As Nadal returned this year unseeded, days away from his 38th birthday and desperately searching for form of old, his brutal first-round draw against Alexander Zverev pitted his muscle memory of greatness against a top contender with ideal form and preparation.
