Alexander Zverev verbally hands out - The world of the world champion in disarray
Alexander Zverev also failed early in Rome. The winner of the ATP Final Tournament 2018 in London currently has too many construction sites on and next to the court.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: May 15, 2019, 02:12 pm
Alexander Zverev had not yet started his mission as a lone fighter in Rome, when he had his most winning moment at the Masters spectacle in the "Foro Italico." Zverev was on the court in doubles with his brother Mischa when he unhappily hit a butterfly ball the rows of spectators were balanced. The stray bullet hit a little girl on the forehead, there were tears, the shock was greater than the bruise itself. Zverev came quickly, not without a small gift. Zverev put one of his headbands on the child, brought a smile back to the comforted little one.
A day later, Zverev would have been wished for somebody to comfort him and cheer him up. But in Rome there was a lot of air in the Zverevs' party. Because Zverev had hardly said goodbye to the next bankruptcy, the 5: 7, 5: 7 in the opening game of the second round against the Italian Matteo Berrettini , in this messed up clay court season from the Masters Festival in the "Eternal City", the German top player left a lot of steam - to the general surprise against his closest allies: “When we are at a Masters, we have to be professional. My whole team. Everyone around me, "the 22-year-old dictated into the microphone of sky reporter Moritz Lang," I want to talk to a few people that something like this won't happen next time. "Rumms. That was sitting. All the more so since at least the “tennis family” was still an ideal world for Zverev, a refuge where chaos and disorder reigned all around.
Not much fits together in Zverev's cosmos
Who exactly Zverev meant remained unclear - the love of truth ("I always say how it is") of the ATP world champion did not go that far. But regardless of whether your own family, i.e. father, mother and brother, or assistants such as physiotherapist Hugo Gravil or fitness coach Jez Green, were able to feel addressed - the fact is: in Zverev's cosmos, not much fits together anymore, nothing at all when you hear Zverev’s statements. "I went to the court and was completely dead," the giant said after the Berrettini exit, "I had to do other things here. You really can't go out on the pitch like this. ”It was an allusion to advertising appointments, other commitments that apparently nobody could keep him off his body.
Since Zverev has been in a legal dispute with the long-time manager Patricio Apey, he has been his own business owner. He recently complained that he was hanging out on the phone "for hours" and had to "take care of everything". In the most difficult phase of the season, the clay court series, in which he has to maintain the thickest pad of points, Zverev never really seems to be able to clear his head for his tennis tasks. "He would have to completely reorganize the shop now, with outside people who would give him good advice," says a friend of Zverev's.
Ivan Lendl was also missing in Rome
Zverev's crisis reached its peak in Rome because the champion of ATP professionals, who was celebrated last autumn, can no longer rely on anything. And because the whole clay court series was already a succession of failures and personal problems. Zverev broke up with his girlfriend Olga, father Alexander was temporarily out of the travel pack due to poor health, consultant Ivan Lendl was also absent because he avoided spring in Europe due to a pollen allergy. Added to this was the backdrop theater and with Manager Apey, an astonishing process, one suspected that Zverev and the Chilean were a heart and a soul. Not even close. The consequence of it all: Zverev was his own trainer, consultant and manager for long stretches. Which was too much of a burden and burden.
Last year, Zverev and Matador Rafael Nadal dominated the clay court season. In almost every tournament he played in the hot final phase, won the titles in Munich and Madrid, was in the final in Rome and in the semi-finals of Monte Carlo. Now he was just an unfortunate supporting actor, impure with himself and the world. “First of all, I don't touch the racket for a few days. I have no desire to play tennis right now, ”said Zverev after the failure in Rome, then added grimly, looking at the conditions when he lost:“ In the wind, I am one of the worst players ever in the top Ten gave. “Zverev has to survive another tournament on sand, nothing less than the French Open. As a quarter-finalist in 2018, he also had many points to defend there. But will everything suddenly change and get better there, in Paris? "I have my hopes for the French Open," says Zverev. But what exactly they consist of, he left open.