Finally emotions on the court: Tommy Haas enthusiastic about Zverev-Zoff with Medvedev

Finally emotions on the court
Tommy Haas enthusiastic about Zverev-Zoff with Medvedev

04/20/2023, 07:10 am

In the last week, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev first had a big match in Monte Carlo and later dueled with words. Former German tennis pro Tommy Haas is happy. Finally something going on again on the tour.

Emotions and little mind games on the tennis court, like those recently between Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev, are to the liking of ex-professional Tommy Haas. “I think that’s generally quite good. I’m a bit more for the emotions. Always this ‘High Five’ and ‘Congratulations’ and ‘Wish you the best’ (I wish you the best) every week, I can’t do that either hear more,” said the 45-year-old former world number two at the Munich clay court tournament.

Most recently, the verbal duel between Zverev and Medvedev caused a stir in the tennis scene. After his defeat in Monte Carlo, Zverev described his opponent as one of “the most unfair players in the world” – for example because the Russian had removed the net post when going to his bench. Then both players played again.

Big pressure on Zverev

For a few days the poison darts flew back and forth. The Russian recommended that the German tennis star take a look in his own mirror. And Zverev replied that he also “breaks a racket once in a while”, but otherwise rather plays tennis.

Real action on the tour. A little escalated. And so Haas, who was known for his emotional demeanor on the pitch during his career, saw more of a reason to calm things down. Looking back, he couldn’t see any unfair behavior on the part of Medvedev. “I didn’t think it was that bad. It wasn’t unfair to Sascha,” he said.

With a view to Zverev’s comeback, Haas said that the Olympic champion had to play even more aggressively. “He’s hungry and needs a tournament where he gets to the final or wins,” said the Indian Wells tournament director, also thinking about the world rankings: “Sascha is under pressure at the next tournaments. It’s something new for him that he can slip out of the top 20 or 30”. After good results in the previous year, Zverev has many world ranking points to defend in the coming weeks in Madrid, Rome and at the French Open.