tennis
Zverev after Aus in Rome: Worst tennis in years
Not in shape at the moment: Alexander Zverev. photo
© Gregorio Borgia/AP/dpa
After the next early tournament, Alexander Zverev is deeply disappointed. The Olympic champion simply lacks success. Jan-Lennard Struff will pass in the world tennis rankings.
After the round of 16 at the Masters tournament in Rome, Alexander Zverev sees no progress on the way to his former form and earlier self-confidence. Due to the 2: 6, 6: 7 (3: 7) defeat against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, he will also fall behind Jan-Lennard Struff in the new world rankings next week and for the first time since August 2016 he will no longer be the highest-ranked German be a pro.
“I’m still 1000 kilometers away,” said the man from Hamburg in an interview with TV broadcaster Sky about his current level of performance. “To say you’re back you have to win at least once and I don’t do that. I’m out earlier than I would like to be. I’m kind of not able to go any further in the tournament right now. “
The semi-finals at the tournament in Dubai at the beginning of March remain the best performance this year.
Crisis before the French Open
“I have to win and then that will solve it. I don’t know what to say anymore. At the moment this year I’m probably playing the worst tennis since 2015, 2016,” Zverev said less than two weeks before the start of the French Open firmly. At the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, he injured his foot badly last year and had to pause for months.
Madrid finalist Struff (33) will now overtake the 26-year-old in the world rankings, but classifies this as irrelevant. “With Sascha we have someone who has been the clear number 1 in Germany for years. The fact that I have come so close to him is only due to his long injury and that I again had no points to defend,” said Struff recently in one Interview by the German Tennis Association and encouraged Zverev: “I am sure that he will soon be higher up the rankings again.”