Barbara Rittner on Alexander Zverev before the French Open: "Mentally unbelievably stable"
Barbara Rittner was impressed by Alexander Zverev's performance at the US Open - and also trusts the German to do a lot in Roland Garros.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Sep 17, 2020, 02:58 pm
Germany's head of women's tennis, Barbara Rittner, praised the development of top player Alexander Zverev a few days before the start of the French Open. "He made an incredibly solid impression mentally," said Rittner of the US Open finalist. "He really stayed very calm and cool, and was also very reflective in interviews. When his head is that clear, that's one of his greatest strengths."
Zverev had just missed his first Grand Slam title against Dominic Thiem in five sets at the US Open. At the French Open (from September 27th) you shouldn't expect too much: "First of all, he has to regenerate physically," Rittner told SID: "The biggest challenge is that he only has two weeks to get up Prepare sand. "
After his bitter defeat in the final, Germany's number one appeared to be quite touched, but in the on-court interview after the final, the man from Hamburg said that he was convinced that his time for the Grand Slam title would definitely come. That this could well be the case in Roland Garros, Zverev's strength speaks on sand.
Kerber is missing the French Open title
In the years 2017 and 2018 in particular, the world number seven had achieved strong results on the "red ash", with victories in Madrid and Rome celebrated two of his three ATP Masters 1000 titles on clay. Only at the Grand Slam in Paris is the German still waiting for an excellent performance, in the last two years the quarter-finals (2018 against Thiem, 2019 against Djokovic) were quite clearly the final destination.
As Rittner also emphasized, for Zverev it is now a matter of finding a good mixture of preparation for the Grand Slam on sand and the necessary relaxation after the exhausting US Open. The same applies to the former world number one Angelique Kerber, who was eliminated in the second round of the US Open. "Angie is more of a hard court player," said Rittner. "She played surprisingly well at the US Open, having not played for eight months." Kerber is the only Grand Slam tournament not to have won the French Open.