Tennis: Melbourne works after: Zverev out of shape

The lost Australian Open final at Alexander Zverev still works a month later. Instead of giving ground in the fight for doping, Jannik Sinner gave up the floor in the fight for one place, Zverev lined up to the next on his Latin America tour.

After the two quarter-final defeats in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, Zverev’s Mexican Acapulco even ended in the round of 16. In the 3: 6, 4: 6 against the 19-year-old US qualified Learner Tien, the Melbourne finalist showed a disappointing performance and did not look really fit a week before the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells.

However, Zverev was not alone. In addition to the top seed, the other three favorites were also eliminated: Norwegian Casper Ruud and the American Tommy Paul did not compete for their round of rounds because of stomach problems. The Dane Holger Rune gave up against Brandon Nakashima from the United States at 0: 3 in the first set.

Zverev could replace Sinner at the top of the world rankings in the coming months. The Italian, who defeated Zverev in three sets in the final of Melbourne, and thus destroyed the German dream of the first Grand Slam title again, is out of the outside after his deal with the Welt-Anti-Doping agency Wada and only returns to the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome in May.

“Of course that’s in my head, but I’m trying not to think about it,” Zverev said after his tedious kick -off in Acapulco against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi. “I have to play good tennis and win some tournaments.” Currently the world ranking second is still more than 3000 points behind Sinner.

Disappointing achievements

But in the constitution of the past few weeks, Zverev is not entitled to the tennis throne anyway. Even in Argentina and Brazil, the 27-year-old tormented more through the tournaments, never found his convincing tennis, with which he had reached the final at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

And now the next low in Acapulco. An ambivalent place for Zverev anyway. In 2021, the Hamburg -born won the tournament and had Sombrero celebrated on his head in the confetti rain. A year later, after a actually meaningless double defeat, he completely lost the version and was disqualified after a racket attack on the referee’s chair.

Indian Wells as the next chance

For Zverev, it continues in California. The Olympic champion of 2021 has always been difficult for the hard court tournament organized by the Tommy Haas, never came out about the quarter-finals. So there are no good conditions to get going again after the setbacks of the past few weeks.

Before it gets serious in Indian Wells, Zverev is initially on the program. The charity event Desert Smash is about a good mood and money for a good cause. Perhaps Zverev will do it quite well after the failures of the past few weeks, without pressure on the tennis court.