Australian Open: Alexander Zverev's exclamation mark against all critics: "That gives me fire"
The mood is great, the performances are getting better and better: Alexander Zverev is in the round of 16 of the Australian Open and impressively underlines his ambitions.
by SID
last edit: Feb 12, 2021, 03:40 pm
Shortly after his demonstration of strength, there was nothing to be seen of the sovereign and ice-cold Alexander Zverev. He and his big brother Mischa fooled around like small children, the German number one hardly got around to their impressive eighth final at the Australian Open to portray. "Mischa hampers around here and makes grimaces, I can't even concentrate," said the world number seven with a grin - the mood at Zverev's house is great.
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This is not surprising either, after all, the 23-year-old is right on track in Melbourne. With the extremely dominant 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 1 against the uncomfortable French Adrian Mannarino, Zverev set a big exclamation point in the third round. "It was highly motivated, focused and played well right from the start," praised Boris Becker at Eurosport.
The tennis icon did not want to accept that Zverev still stacked deep and found his performance only "okay". "I think you are understating a bit," said Becker: "That was really good." Zverev had previously preferred to let deeds speak for themselves and underlined his ambitions for the first Grand Slam title - after all, the US Open finalist wants to show his critics.
"Experts have other players on the list"
"I haven't been seen as a favorite lately. It wasn't like that at the US Open, not here either," complained the man from Hamburg. The experts would have "other players on the list, although I think I play better than them". Zverev draws a special motivation from this. "I take it personally," he emphasized, "that gives me fire."
Only the corona development in Melbourne could dampen the mood on Friday. Despite another five-day lockdown from Saturday, the tournament can continue, but Zverev will have to contest his round of 16 on Sunday against the Serbian Dusan Lajovic without an audience. "It's a shame, of course, tennis without a spectator is different," said Zverev, but showed understanding: "Health comes first. A tennis tournament is not the most important thing in the world."
The German team felt this painfully. Because the Olympic dream of the two-time French Open winner Andreas Mies has probably burst after a cartilage operation on the knee. "You can assume that I won't be able to take part in a tournament for six months," the Cologne native told SID. The title defense with his congenial doubles partner Kevin Krawietz in Roland Garros in May is therefore excluded.
Abs continue to tweak
Health is also an omnipresent topic at Zverev these days - an abdominal muscle injury continues to plague him, even if he served 19 aces against Mannarino. "I still play with painkillers, but it's getting better," he said. Nevertheless, Physio Hugo Gravil will continue to be Zverev's most important man in the coming days in order to keep the title dream alive.
In the lockdown until Wednesday, which the tennis pros spend in a sealed-off bubble, no other leisure activities are imposed anyway. "Unfortunately the casino no longer works," said Zverev and then fooled around again: "Playstation is also boring, I don't have any real opponents. My brother can't do it, he's so bad."
So for better or worse he has to concentrate fully on his opponents on the tennis court.