Alexander Zverev punched his bat on the floor of the Lanxess Arena. The first contact with the gray hard court in Cologne was rather frustrating for the German number one. He suffered a defeat in doubles with his brother Mischa, but the 23-year-old quickly looked forward again.
“I’m happy that I can play in Germany,” said Zverev, who as a local hero is of course the big star of the ATP tournament and in the singles in the cathedral city. “Sure, if you are on one, you want to win the tournament too,” he said on Tuesday afternoon.
“The new normal”
Shortly beforehand, the organizers had to announce that from Wednesday onwards no more spectators will come into the hall. Instead of the previously approved 999 fans, the responsible health department wanted to approve only 250 spectators because of the high number of corona cases, but for organizational reasons it was “not possible to select 250 ticket buyers from a group of 800 people,” said tournament director Barbara Rittner.
Zverev, who is used to playing without a spectator, accepted it professionally. “Unfortunately, this is the new normal,” he said: “It is how it is.” Zverev does not want to be dissuaded from his path. Because Zverev still has a big goal in this eventful tennis year: the ATP finals. The tournament that he triumphantly won in 2018. At that time he celebrated his final breakthrough in London, but after that there were no further top successes.
In New York at the US Open, he was very close to his first Grand Slam success, the lost fifth set against Dominic Thiem in the final still haunts him. “What do you think? I think about it 20 to 25 times every day, “said Zverev energetically in Cologne. “At night too. And in my dreams too. “
Now, when he starts the singles in the cathedral city from Thursday, he already has the season finale from November 15th to 22nd in mind. After all, Zverev can fully concentrate on the individual, as he and his brother lost 6:10 in the match tiebreaker Raven Klaasen / Oliver Marach (South Africa / Austria) on Tuesday, before it had been 6: 2, 4: 6. At the beginning it was “very nice” on the court, “then you saw” that “we hardly played.” On Thursday he will serve against Fernando Verdasco (Spain). It is necessary to change again, this time from sand to hard court.
At the French Open, Zverev failed in the second round to Jannik Sinner (Italy) and once more caused a stir after the match. His confession to have played in pandemic times despite fever and cough, did not go down well with some critics. Zverev did not recognize any misconduct. In Cologne, he wants to make headlines again.
.
