ATP Masters Indian Wells: Alexander Zverev - "This defeat hurts"
Alexander Zverev's defeat against Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells was avoidable. And could have something to do with the Olympic champion's workload.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 16, 2021, 09:28 am
And so Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev sat in their press conferences after their quarter-final match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells and talked about their match, which was remarkable in many ways. While Fritz classified the success over Zverev as by far the greatest of his career, the Olympic champion stated with the usual frankness that this defeat really hurts him. Zverev had two match balls on his racket, the second he missed with a double error. Which should not detract from the outstanding performance of Fritz.
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You have to go back a few months to come across a match that Alexander Zverev gave up rather than his opponent being the better player: After Wimbledon maybe, where the German against Félix Auger-Aliassime , against whom he was in had never had any problems before, was surprisingly eliminated. Then there was the festival in Tokyo, the triumph in Cincinnati and the strong performance at the US Open. A win in Indian Wells would have refined Zverev's already outstanding season once again.
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(Too) many matches for Zverev, Medvedev, Tsitsipas
The prerequisites for this were given: Immediately before the match against Fritz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, the last remaining favorite against Nikoloz Basilashvili, had said goodbye, Daniil Medvedev had already failed in the round of 16 against Grigor Dimitrov . For Medvedev you can already draw the same summary of the season as for Zverev, the Russian maybe even a little ahead with the victory at the US Open.
For Zverev like Medvedev as well as Tsitsipas, however, the following applies: The long season takes its toll. All three were most recently involved in the Laver Cup in the Boston hall, the switch to outside tennis at 30 degrees in Indian Wells is certainly not easy to accomplish. Especially when you consider the burden of the three named: Medvedev has played 61 matches including Indian Wells, Zverev comes to 60, Tsitsipas even to 70.
And the 2021 season is far from over for the trio: Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will start at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna from October 25th, Zverev has also named for Paris-Bercy and Stockholm. Daniil Medvedev is considering starting in Moscow this week. And for all three there is also the ATP final in Turin.
Here the single tableau in Indian Wells
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