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It’s a serious injury sustained by Alexander Zverev at the French Open. The bitter diagnosis was a triple torn ligament. Month-long forced break. Germany’s best tennis player has to watch Wimbledon, the most traditional tournament on the tour, from the couch. How he is doing? In an interview, the 25-year-old gives insights into his inner life.
For my nephew I am “a little hero”
Zverev is particularly hurt that girlfriend Sophia Thomalla could not stand by his side after the tragic end. Still today. “In this phase you want to have the people you love the most around you, so it was disappointing for me that Sophia didn’t come, but that’s the job,” he said in an interview with “Bild”. As a reminder: Thomalla was in front of the camera for RTL in Greece at the time.
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Zverev got and continues to get help from his family during this difficult time.: “My father and mother were there. I couldn’t do anything alone: take a shower, go to the toilet. They took care of me like a little baby. For me that was so important. Those two people helped me the most. And I played with my nephew. For kids you’re a little hero if you’re on TV every now and then. He wanted to spend time with me.”
“Like someone shoot me in the foot”
He thinks back with horror to the moment when he twisted his ankle against Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the French Open. Perhaps the worst moment of his sporting career. “I only remember three noises. Noises that sound like something breaking. In quick succession: crack, crack, crack, very quickly. Then I was in extreme pain, it was crazy. As if someone was in my foot shoots,” said Zverev.
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He is now on the mend: “It’s fine. I don’t do much, lie on the bed with my dogs, but I also go to the weight room twice a day. I still wear a cast and splints. But I’m trying to keep your upper body fit.”
US Open not ticked off yet
A comeback is still a long way off. US Open? Maybe. The last Grand Slam tournament of the year starts at the end of August. But until then, Zverev has a lot of work to do: “I was lucky in my misfortune and didn’t suffer any bone damage. That’s what the doctors thought at first. But I won’t be one to play immediately if he’s ready for it the first second. If I the US Open games, then not for one or two rounds, but to win them. I’ll only come back when I’m in this form. I don’t know whether it will be the US Open, because I have to play one or two tournaments before that play. I haven’t ticked off New York yet.” (tme)
