ATP Masters Monte Carlo: how serious are Alexander Zverev's elbow problems?
Alexander Zverev was eliminated from the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo in the round of 16 - and still had to struggle with elbow problems in the principality.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Apr 16, 2021, 02:24 pm
For Alexander Zverev, things have not been going well since his triumph at the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco: First, the German had to take a bitter opening failure in Miami and the start of the clay court season was anything but ideal. After the cancellation of the event in Marbella, the 23-year-old lost in his "home tournament" in Monte Carlo in the round of 16.
Well, David Goffin showed an impressive performance in the 6: 4 and 7: 6 (7) success, but the strong performance of the Belgian must not hide one or the other inadequacy in Zverev's game. The world number six often acted too passively and too often left the field to his opponent, and the native of Hamburg also lacked callousness in the decisive moments: Zverev couldn't turn a single one of his six breakballs.
Zverev fights despite injury
Nevertheless, everything was by no means bad in the Principality, if Zverev almost made the turn after defending four consecutive match balls in the tie-break. Goffin played "extremely well," said the US Open finalist after the game. However, Zverev was not dissatisfied with his own performance: "For the circumstances, it was a pretty good game on my part"
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But what did Zverev mean by the "circumstances"? Apparently he was still struggling with elbow pain in Monte Carlo that had already bothered him in Miami. "With the elbow injury, with the uncertainty whether I would play the tournament or not, it was quite okay," stated the sixth in the world rankings.
Next appearance in Munich
The elbow was still swollen, said Zverev, and it wasn't until Tuesday that he hit it again for the first time. "It's a small fracture. I'm still recovering at the moment, so I'm not at 100 percent. But I'm trying to get better from day to day," the German said after his opening success about Lorenzo Sonego .
How much Zverev limit the problems is difficult to judge. It should be noted, however, that in view of the persistent pain, it is likely to be a somewhat protracted injury. Hopefully the German number one will get their injury concerns under control before the event in Munich, which starts on April 26th.
Here the single tableau in Monte Carlo
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