BMW Open: Alexander Zverev meets a select field – Sport

Mischa Zverev looked relaxed in front of his laptop camera when he looked at the virtual media round on Tuesday. Almost four weeks before the start of the BMW Open, the 35-year-old was on a multiple mission: as the older brother of Alexander Zverev, anyway. But also as a tournament ambassador. And, last but not least, as the new tournament director, a task he is taking on for the first time. However, Patrik Kühnen does not have to fear for his job, the 57-year-old remains tournament director of the BMW Open. At the Munich tournament, Zverev “only” takes responsibility for the Para Trophy, the tournament for wheelchair tennis players.

But the focus was initially on his brother again. Because Alexander Zverev will, even if the world number 15. fell out of the top ten due to his long-term ankle injury, the Be a spectator magnet at the Munich ATP 250 tournament, which will take place as usual on April 15 at the noble MTTC Iphitos facility. After all, Zverev is an Olympic champion, he has won the BMW Open twice and, through his liaison with Sophia Thomalla, who always accompanies the boulevard at every turn, also brings a bit of glamor with him. “We are very happy that he is back with us. After the injury, his path is going up steeply again,” said Kühnen, while Zverev himself was able to rave in a message sent later: “It’s one of my favorite tournaments.”

In addition to Zverev, other world-class players are traveling to Munich in Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz and Matteo Berrettini. The Danish defending champion Rune, who celebrated his 18th birthday on the Munich Center Court last year, and the American Fritz are currently in the top ten in the world rankings in eighth and tenth place. Fritz, 25, was fifth in the world rankings until recently. Last year, he surprisingly won the Masters in Indian Wells. And Berrettini, the Italian Munich finalist from 2019, was in the Wimbledon final in 2021.

Tournament Director Kühnen speaks of the “strongest BMW Open so far at the top”

It is a select field in which even the wildcards have been awarded to prominent names: Dominic Thiem, 2020 US Open winner (against Zverev) and former number three, is returning to Munich seven years after reaching the final on Aumeisterweg. In addition, the two Germans Jan-Lennard Struff and Oscar Otte, who was in the semifinals in Munich last year, will receive wildcards. Tournament director Kühnen spoke on Tuesday in general of the “strongest BMW Open so far at the top”. This is probably one of the reasons why the tickets are slowly becoming scarce: the quarter-finals on Friday, semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday are already sold out, and there are only a few remaining tickets for the other days.

From Thursday to Saturday, the wheelchair tennis players will also play the Para Trophy for the second time during the tournament. In his new role, Mischa Zverev was able to sign the current number one in the world rankings, Alfie Hewett. The Brit has won seven Grand Slams so far, this year only the Australian Open. The defending champion of the Munich Para Trophy, Gustavo Fernandez from Argentina, is also at the start – and adorned as third in the world rankings with five Grand Slam titles. Unlike the first time, this year the players are not allowed to present themselves to the public on two, but on three days.

Despite his new role, Mischa Zverev will make sure he doesn’t miss any of his brother’s games. “The shots are there, he’s back to the level he was before the injury. Now it’s about consistency.” And also about the culinary feel-good factor: the traditional schnitzel in the hotel is also a must for his brother in Munich, reports Mischa. He prefers to keep an eye out for a “really good Kaiserschmarrn”.