Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has suffered the next setback in his preparation for the French Open. The Hamburg player was eliminated in the round of 16 in Madrid.
At the ATP Masters in Madrid on Tuesday (April 30, 2024), the Hamburg native surprisingly lost to the strong Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 3:6, 4:6 and was eliminated in the round of 16 in the Spanish capital for the second time in a row.
Round of 16 arrow right
After the game, Zverev appeared at a loss in the “Sky” interview. “I don’t really understand it at the moment because the shots weren’t that bad,” said Zverev. “It’s confusing for me when I have the ball in my racket like that, when I’m serving at 227 km/h and then Losing 3:6, 4:6. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
First good start in Madrid
Less than four weeks before the start of the second Grand Slam tournament of the year in Paris (May 26th to June 9th), Zverev is looking for his form on clay. After his early exit in Munich, the world number five had a good start to the tournament in Madrid with two confident victories, with the world number 22. Cerundolo, the two-time tournament winner (2018 and 2021), had problems from the start.
Zverev complained early on about what he considered to be too bright and therefore irritating perimeter advertising, but the Argentinian did not let himself be disturbed and played cheekily. After an early break in the second set, Cerundolo was unstoppable and used his second match point to win after 1:28 hours of play.
Struff meets Alcaraz
In the afternoon, Munich champion Jan-Lennard Struff wants to do better and move into the quarter-finals. The Warsteiner will face the Spanish Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz in a new edition of last year’s final.
