The tennis pro kept his nerve and avoided an early exit at the French Open. Negative experiences on and off the court have shaped him and helped him mature. This should now also help him against Holger Rune.
When Alexander Zverev was sitting on the bench, 1:4 down in the fifth set, pondering his impending exit from the French Open, the solution was clearly visible on the upper tier of Court Philippe Chatrier. There, the motto of the French aviation pioneer Roland Garros is immortalized: “Victory belongs to the most persistent.”
Undeterred and persistent, the German tennis star fought against the early end of his title mission in Paris and advanced to the round of 16 in a real rollercoaster ride.
“I’ve been through a lot of shit in the last few years. With my injuries, with my comeback, with a lot of stuff. I still believe that it can make you stronger,” said the Hamburg native after his happy ending in the five-set thriller with a 3:6, 6:4, 6:2, 4:6, 7:6 (10:3) against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
Zverev will also have to fight hard in the round of 16 on Monday against Danish tennis star Holger Rune, because his most urgent wish is likely to remain unfulfilled: “23 degrees and sunshine.” Clouds and temperatures of around 17 degrees are forecast, and the Olympic champion in Paris will not feel comfortable enough given the cold and wet weather. To play his best, he needs more warmth and faster balls that bounce higher.
Emotions under control
But he doesn’t want to get upset about the difficult conditions. His sporting and private setbacks in the past seem to have strengthened him mentally. “You can either go down completely, or you can come back and say: I went through all that, am now back here and have earned myself the chance to play for titles like this again,” said Zverev.
The serious foot injury in the 2022 French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal, the dramatically shattered dream of a Grand Slam title and number 1 in world tennis, the arduous fight back to the top of the world – all of this has left its mark on the Hamburg native. His terrible outburst in Acapulco two and a half years ago, when he repeatedly hit the referee’s chair with his racket, is also one of them.
“I don’t smash rackets anymore, I hardly get any warnings anymore,” said Zverev about his apparent transformation and explained: “I told myself: I want to become a different type of player, a kind of role model.” Just like the great tennis icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who are not only revered for their successes.
Zverev the last German professional in Paris
He did have his arguments with the chair umpire against Griekspoor, but everything remained within limits. He found another way out of the crisis. Zverev stopped the Dutchman’s serve-and-volley game, which “killed him for one and a half sets”, with a more offensive return position. He recovered a double break in the fifth set and demonstrated his increased mental strength in the match tiebreak.
This should not only help him against Rune, the former protégé of tennis icon Boris Becker, but also lead to the long-awaited first Grand Slam tournament victory. “At the end of the day, that’s why I’m here,” said Zverev: “It’s no secret that I want to win one of these things – and hopefully more than one.”
Zverev is the last remaining German tennis professional in the tournament after Jan-Lennard Struff lost his third-round match against Australian Alex De Minaur 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 3-6 on Saturday, which was accompanied by a long rain interruption.
The defeat also dampened the excitement of the big BVB fan for the Champions League final of his favorite football club Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid that evening. “I’m not in the mood for it at the moment,” said Struff just under an hour before kick-off. Struff’s mood is unlikely to have improved much after BVB’s defeat.
Source: Stern
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