As one of the last players to have not yet started their tournament on the morning of this Thursday, July 6 because of the rain which forced many meetings to be postponed, Alexander Zverev therefore qualified, with a delay on the others. players of the men’s circuit, for the second round of the London Grand Slam, this Thursday. It was also his first match on the grass of Wimbledon since 2021 since he had not been able to play the tournament last year, seriously injured in the ankle a few weeks earlier, against Nadal.
It took him to qualify, defeat, in three sets (6-4, 7-6 [4]7-6 [5]) by Gijs Brouwer, 143rd in the world. He did it, without entirely convincing and without being flamboyant, winning for example the first set with only 68% of first ball and 8 unforced errors in the set.
But thanks to better management of pivotal moments, the German won a second set during which he was led from start to finish, in the tie-break. In the same way, he again patiently let himself be led to the tie-break of the 3rd set, which he again won, to win the match, after 2 hours 15 minutes of play.
He will face in the second round the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki, who, for his part, managed a comeback (6-7 [5]5-7, 7-6 [5]7-6 [3]6-3) against the Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler.
