The start of the tennis year did not go as planned for Alexander Zverev. After his long break, he identified some physical deficits.
Alexander Zverev was not satisfied. He sees his tennis “far away”, far away from the level he was playing at when the momentous misstep in the semifinals of the French Open against Rafael Nadal tore him out of all dreams.
“A few things are a bit different,” said Germany’s number one after the opening defeat at the United Cup in Sydney against the Czech Jiri Lehecka. He got tired more quickly: “But that’s what happens when you haven’t played for a long time.”
In fact, Zverev has not played for a long time, but on June 3rd in the semifinals against Nadal in Paris he was in the form of his life. He fought a bitter fight at eye level with the king of the red ash, the pendulum had not yet swung to one side or the other – and then Zverev’s tennis year ended abruptly and painfully after a long lunge. Triple ligament tear in the right ankle, Zverev left the pitch in a wheelchair.
Alexander Zverev dampens expectations for Melbourne
To which he has not yet returned in the outstanding form of that time. A failed attempt in September, which he had to abandon in frustration due to bone edema, a few show tournaments, a worthless win against Novak Djokovic in Doha and now the loss to Lehecka in Sydney.
It was his first competitive-level match since the French Open – and there’s still a lot of room for improvement. After all: “In terms of feeling, it was okay,” admitted Zverev.
Not as fast as in the first half of the year, but tired faster – the conditions on the way to the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in Melbourne could really be better. The right foot is fully operational again, but: “It would be unrealistic and stupid to have hopes of winning or something,” said the 25-year-old with regard to Melbourne. After all, he has only been completely free of pain for a very short time and now has to make up for the physical deficits.
Zverev wins mixed with Laura Siegemund
At least Zverev was able to celebrate a small sense of achievement in his second match at the United Cup. Alongside Laura Siegemund, he won the mixed match against the Czech couple Lehecka/Bouzkova in two sets. The next individual for Zverev is on Monday, then the American Taylor Fritz is the opponent.
As a precaution, the Olympic champion is keeping expectations low. It will certainly take “a few weeks before I’m back to my desired level”.
Oscar Otte was responsible for cosmetic results in the 2:3 defeat against the Czech Republic in the United Cup, the Cologne native beat Dalibor Svrcina 7:6, 6:2. However, the defeat was already certain after Laura Siegemund’s 4:6, 2:6 against the two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. The day before, in addition to Zverev, Jule Niemeier had also lost her single against Marie Bouzkova.
