Alexander Zverev is one of few to have gotten the better of Nadal in Paris, defeating the Spaniard 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the first round earlier this year on what ended up becoming Nadal’s last-ever French Open appearance.

It was revenge for the loss Nadal handed him two years prior, the seventh he dished out in their head-to-head, as Zverev retired from their semi-final and Nadal progressed to defeat Casper Ruud in his final Grand Slam-winning match.

And Zverev, who has played against Federer and Novak Djokovic on countless occasions before and since taking on Nadal, insisted that facing the Spanish star on Court Philippe-Chatrier was the toughest task in tennis.

“He (Nadal) becomes different,” Zverev told The Athletic. “His ball all of a sudden becomes a few kilometres an hour faster. His footwork and foot speed become a lot faster.

“It’s more difficult to hit a winner, especially on Philippe Chatrier, which is a massive court, so he has a lot more space. It is very difficult. It’s probably the biggest challenge in tennis playing Nadal on that court.

“You have a feeling that you just can’t put him away. I think the first set that I played against him (in that 2022 semi-final) basically describes it to perfection. I mean, I won that set I don’t know how many times against any other player and I still somehow managed to lose it in the tie-break.

“I was up 6-2 in the tie-break. He aced me I think for the first time in the entire match. Then he hit one of the most ridiculous passing shots I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Somehow you feel like you’re winning, but then somehow you end up not. It’s just something you only feel against him on that specific court.”

Few would argue with Zverev. Nadal won 112 of his 116 matches on the Parisian clay and 63 of his 92 ATP singles titles came on the same surface while winning 81 consecutive matches on the red clay.

Djokovic’s 10 Australian Open wins is the closest that anyone has come to matching Nadal’s excellence in France, but even the 24-time Major winner is extremely unlikely to win in Melbourne on another four occasions.

As Zverev made clear, no one came close to Nadal on clay.