Embarrassing debacle in Munich
Alexander Zverev struggles after the system crash
4/28/2022 1:59 p.m
The first months of 2022 are months that Alexander Zverev prefers to forget. He travels to the tournament in Munich, but the ground opens up there and swallows him up. He’s playing the worst tennis in a long time. Dejected, he looks to the future.
There were five days between the hope of a turn for the better and the crash into the abyss. Before the start of the tennis tournament in Munich, Alexander Zverev had spread optimism and assured: “I’m here with the feeling that a lot can change and I’ll have the best year of my life.” But then he had to realize: his feelings had deceived him. The complete system crash against 18-year-old Dane Holger Rune (3: 6, 2: 6) a month before the start of the French Open (May 22) hit Zverev to the core. With wet, shimmering eyes, he tried to explain what he couldn’t explain: he played “bottomless”, worse than he had in “five, six, seven years” – the Olympic champion looked like a heap of misery.
A bad feeling and an inexplicable debacle do not bode well for the coming weeks. Zverev is now traveling to the Masters in Madrid (from May 1st) – he has won there twice, he feels comfortable there, but he said the same before Munich. This is followed by the Masters in Rome (from May 8th) – and Roland Garros. Big tasks. Zverev described Munich as the perfect preparation for these tournaments. There he wanted to get the curve after a mixed first few months in which he often got in his own way – triggered by the repeated opportunity to become world number one. “I was under so much pressure that I sometimes didn’t have fun,” Zverev admitted.
Figures no worse than 2021
In Munich, however, despite the good mood, things did not go as planned in training. Zverev confessed that he had “not really found my rhythm in the last few days”. In fact, there was a good atmosphere in the units, for example with the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who was number two, but it was also evident that Zverev was dissatisfied.
He has been looked after by Sergi Bruguera for a good month now. There were occasional serious discussions during the training sessions with the Spaniard, winner of the French Open in 1993 and 1994, but Zverev sometimes turned away when the Catalan said something to him. After his end against Rune, the fourth in the world rankings emphasized that “no one” from his staff was to blame for this debacle.
Judging by the bare numbers, Zverev is not that bad compared to last year: in 2021 he had a record of 11 wins and 7 defeats, now he goes to Madrid with 15 wins and 7 defeats. He will not lose many points in the world rankings either, because he only reached the quarter-finals in Munich a year ago. And in fact, Zverev only managed to turn things around for the better in Madrid last year. The good feeling from Munich is of course gone for the time being.