A start has been made. Alexander Zverev is playing tennis again. In Saudi Arabia he wins and loses once. Much more important, however, is the realization that the foot holds.
Alexander Zverev is back, but as expected, the road to old strength is still long. The Olympic champion celebrated his comeback on the tennis stage with one win and one loss.
At the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia, the Olympic champion first won against the Austrian Dominic Thiem 10:8, 10:7. The sets were played in the first round of the show event in a so-called match tiebreak and were therefore much shorter than usual. In the quarter-finals, Zverev had to admit defeat to the Russian Daniil Medvedev 0: 6, 4: 6. This means that the 25-year-old will only play doubles on Friday.
For Zverev, it was the first official appearance since the semifinals at the French Open when he suffered a serious foot injury against Rafael Nadal in Paris in early June. Born in Hamburg, he wants to gain some match practice this year before things get serious again around the turn of the year with the United Cup in Australia. The Australian Open will start in Melbourne on January 16, 2023.
“Nothing has changed in my goals”
“I can’t just travel to the Australian Open and expect to show my best tennis. That’s why these tournaments are extremely important,” Zverev said in an interview with the German press before the event in Saudi Arabia, which is controversial because of the human rights situation. agency said. From December 19th to 24th, Zverev will also take part in the World Tennis League in Dubai, another show event.
“Nothing has changed in my goals. I still want to be one of the best players in the world, I still want to win the biggest tournaments in the world,” said Zverev. “But I also have to accept that I won’t be at 100 percent again straight away. Of course it won’t be a question of today or tomorrow.”
Problems on the second serve
This became particularly clear against Medvedev. After the easy gallop against Thiem in just over 20 minutes, Zverev’s lack of match practice against the Russian was clearly noticeable. The second serve in particular caused problems, as it has often done in the past, five double errors were recorded after the first set. Medvedev won the first round 6-0 after 40 minutes.
In the second set, Zverev improved, when he won his first game to make it 1-1, he jubilantly raised his arms and let himself be celebrated by the few spectators. In the period that followed, the German number one even pulled away to 3:1, but then he made a few slight mistakes again, so that Medvedev was able to use his first match point after 1:31 hours. “It’s clear that after a break of more than six months I still need time. I need time as a tennis player, my foot needs time,” said Zverev. His disappointment was therefore limited.
Source: Stern
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