Tennis: Zverev fails at the start in Indian Wells

Alexander Zverev reacted to the next early defeat with hanging shoulders on the pitch and an empty look at the subsequent press conference. “I have no answers at the moment. I have no idea to be honest,” said number two in the tennis world rankings after 6: 4, 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 7 (4: 7) against the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor at the tournament in Indian Wells. When asked about his state of mind, the 27 -year -old Hamburger answered one word: “Sadness”.

Zverev was one of the favorites in the hard court tournament, endowed with $ 13 million, but already came to California with a number of disappointments. Since the final defeat at the Australian Open at the end of January, he took part in three smaller tournaments in South America and never got beyond the quarter-finals. “I don’t play at the level at which I want to play and certainly not at the level of Australia,” said Zverev. “At the end of the day I just don’t play a good tennis right now. It’s that simple.”

Zverev loses four of the eight games since the Australian Open

Griekspoor, currently number 46 in the world rankings, used his sixth matchball after 3:07 hours. “I lost five times against him last year, they were all tight and I always had my chances. It cost a lot of work,” said Griekspoor later.

Zverev has now lost four of the eight games since the final defeat in Melbourne. His goal of replacing the Italian Jannik Sinner, which was blocked for doping, at the top of the world rankings is moving away.

In the beginning, he was still busy with the chance of becoming number one in the world, said Zverev. “Now less because I just play terrible,” said the Olympic champion. “I have to find my game again before I can think about it – because you have to win tournaments to become number one in the world. And I don’t get beyond the first or second round at the moment.”