Alexander Zverev will start in Geneva
Alexander Zverev will start before the French Open at the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva. After the disappointing results in the past weeks and months, the German wants to gather some practice in Switzerland before the second Grand Slam tournament of the year.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: May 17, 2019, 10:30 pm
After Zverev failed in the second round of Matteo Berrettini at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome, the 22-year-old wants to gain confidence for the French Open in Geneva. This is possible due to the so-called "emergency substitution", which ATP has provided for ATP 250 tournaments in emergencies.
This can come into force if two of the originally four top seeders cancel the event, one player would have been one of the top two seeders on the seed list and the new player was either placed in position one or two. In Geneva this is due to the cancellations of Daniil Medvedev and Fabio Fognini, and Alexander Zverev will also be the top seed at the clay court tournament.
Zverev in continuous use
Due to this regulation, the fifth in the world rankings does not need a wildcard for the event in Switzerland. With the commitment to the 250 tournament, Zverev will have played every week since the event in Marrakech. After his quarter-finals in Morocco, the German did not even get past the round of eight in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Munich, Madrid and Rome.
Despite his early retirement in the Italian capital, he is confident of winning the tournament at the French Open, said Zverev after the match against Berrettini . His performances in Geneva could shed light on the extent to which the 22-year-old can actually be expected to do this coup. Zverev meets Ernests Gulbis or Yoshihito Nishioka after a walk-through.