There it was again, that helplessness. The blank stare. The search for words. Doubts about your own body. Alexander Zverev has experienced everything before, in spring in Paris, when he played his best tournament at the French Open after the long injury break, but then suffered an injury to his left thigh in training and had no chance against the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the semifinals.
So the same thing in New York, in the middle of the quarter-final match against world number one Carlos Alcaraz. Again the left thigh, again so damaged that a duel between equals was impossible. “My body is letting me down a bit at the moment,” said Germany’s best tennis player on Wednesday evening (local time) when his stay in New York ended: “I have to think. I have to see what I can improve physically. ”The end at the US Open hits Zverev hard.
“My greatest weapon was gone”
Alexander Zverev has often boasted that he is physically one of the strongest professionals on the tour. One who impresses opponents with his strength and stamina, who is always able to push them to the limit. Someone who had a few aches and pains like everyone else, but never any problems with muscles or tendons.
45 hours before his 3: 6, 2: 6, 4: 6 against an error-prone Alcaraz, the German had impressed himself and the tennis world with his tough qualities and brought the marathon match against Jannik Sinner to a successful end after 4:41 hours of play, although meanwhile he ran out of strength.
But right after he lost the first set against Alcaraz, it hit him in the thigh. Zverev explained his mishap: “My biggest weapon was gone.” A bump indicates that something had torn. What was the right heel for Achilles is the left thigh for Zverev.
The 26-year-old, who didn’t touch a racket the day after his exhausting round of 16 against Sinner in every respect, said he had recovered “pretty well”. But Zverev was more in his bones than the match that ended at half past one in the morning.
The Hamburger has said goodbye to his bad habit of the past, finding it difficult to get into a Grand Slam tournament, torturing himself in the first rounds against weaker opponents over five sets and thus leaving too much strength for further tasks. Nevertheless, the Hamburger rarely manages to cope with his tasks at Grand Slam tournaments with a tolerable effort.
“He has extra power”
On his way to the US Open quarterfinals, Zverev reached record levels that he would have been better off avoiding. His round of 16 against Sinner is the longest match of this US Open. In total, Zverev was on the pitch for 16:45 hours in five matches, at least four hours longer than any other quarter-finalist, even five and a half hours longer than Alcaraz.
As far as the distance covered is concerned, the German had to run more than five kilometers in several matches, around 60 percent longer than the defending champion from Spain, who will meet the 2021 US Open winner Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals on Friday. “He has extra power compared to other players,” said the Russian about the duel, “He has every stroke of our sport.” In the other semifinal, Grand Slam record winner Novak Djokovic has to deal with the young American Ben Shelton.
Alexander Zverev believes that he is almost on an equal footing with those who are in the semifinals in New York. “The sad thing is that my tennis was there,” said the German, summing up his performances over the past week. In fact, Zverev plays impressively well in his best moments when the first serves and his dreaded backhand come.
Over the long stretch of a Grand Slam tournament, however, he reveals visible weaknesses. Zverev was only able to win two of 16 matches against top ten players in the four two-week tournaments: in Paris 2022 against Alcaraz and now in New York against Sinner.
In the foreseeable future, the advance could be a little easier for Zverev. On Monday after the US Open, he will be back in the top ten in the world, and should he make up another two places, he will be among the top eight seeded again in the Grand Slam tournaments and will not have to be in the third round get rid of heavy chunks like Grigor Dimitrow and then Sinner. “Then you don’t have a four and a half hour thing in the round of 16,” said Zverev.
Thomas Klemm, New York Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Thomas Klemm, New York Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Published/Updated:
More obvious than any Grand Slam tournament is the question of how much the injury to the top German player will damage the national team. The hamburger was actually planned as a safe point supplier in the Davis Cup relegation game against Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Now an investigation has to decide whether Zverev can appear in Mostar in just over a week (September 16th and 17th). “I’m in the team and will try to play,” said Zverev. He didn’t sound really convinced of an assignment.
