Australian Open 2023 – Alexander Zverev: This realization is even more important than winning the opening match in Melbourne

“It was clear and foreseeable that I would do five sets and not win in three,” joked Alexander Zverev in the Eurosport interview.

“It was the first honest test of how fit he is and how he’s doing,” he said Eurosport expert Boris Becker.

Zverev: “It makes a huge difference”

At the United Cup at the beginning of the year in Sydney he was “already pain-free”, “but I didn’t dare to slide to the stop ball and the backhand slice,” explained the world number 12. The fact that this is now possible again means “a huge difference”.

Against Varillas he had now slipped back to the stop and a few baseline shots, Zverev was happy. “I’ve only been doing this for a few days or a week at most.”

And yet it was clear to the Hamburger that it will take a while before he gets back to his usual level.

Varillas surprises Zverev: “Incredible level”

He was “very surprised” by how well his opponent acted. “He was at an incredible level, served well and played super fast from both sides. He only made a few mistakes,” Zverev praised the Peruvian.

That led to Varillas, who has never won a tour-level hard court match, coming close to spoiling Zverev’s Grand Slam comeback.

“You simply cannot make up for a seven-month break with a lot of training sessions. You have a different tension, you have the spectators, the referees. Everything is new, everything is different,” said Becker, who won the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996 .

Becker: It doesn’t matter if Zverev scores…

Even after the win against Varillas, little has changed in this situation. With Michael Mmoh, currently number 107 in the world, or Laurent Lokoli (ATP 175), there is another opponent outside the top 100 in round two, but this does not matter, as Becker explains.

“Sascha is his biggest opponent due to the long injury break, so I don’t care who he plays in the second round again,” believes the tennis legend.

The calculation is very simple: “If Sascha feels good and plays offensively, he will win the match – regardless of who is on the other side.”

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