French Open 2020: Zverev, Kerber and Co. looking for form
Shortly before the tournament starts, the French government tightened the requirements for the French Open. The German stars Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber have to block out the background noise.
by SID
last edit: Sep 25, 2020, 08:13 am
Alexander Zverev whipped his backhand across the Suzanne Lenglen court, his new coach David Ferrer carefully followed every stroke. The ultimate preparation for the French Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, has long since begun for the German tennis stars, and Angelique Kerber is also grooving more and more in Paris. The loud background noises around the tournament both have to fade out.
"My current relationship status to the sand: very promising", wrote the 32-year-old former world number one in the social networks before her first round duel with the Slovenian Kaja Juvan. The first contact with the ashes of Roland Garros had obviously given her hope for a longer liaison this year. But question marks remain. Behind Kerber, around Zverev, who meets the Austrian Dennis Novak at the beginning. Behind the entire tournament in the corona-plagued French capital.
The initially very optimistic audience planning is falling more and more on the feet of the organizing French tennis association FFT, the organizers have to constantly readjust. At first they expected 11,500 fans, a week ago they adjusted the number to 5000. Now the authorities have decided a limit of a thousand people at major events from Saturday, which will probably also apply to the French Open.
Zverev has to process defeat against Thiem
"The situation is getting worse," said Health Minister Oliver Veran on French television: "The pressure on hospitals in particular means that we must take additional measures." An official statement from the tournament organizers was not available by Thursday afternoon.
The professionals are now focusing on their job, they already know the loud background noise around the events from the US Open, where Zverev just missed winning the title in the final against Dominic Thiem . In Paris, the German number one was in the quarter-finals in recent years, sand is definitely the Hamburg. But his preparation without participating in a tournament after changing the surface from the hard court is not ideal. After all, his new coach Ferrer is at his side for the first time at a tournament.
Kerber is driven by the goal of completing her collection of major trophies. "Sure, Paris is the goal I still have this year," she said after her knockout in New York. There followed a clear first round defeat on clay in Rome. It is difficult to assess where the three-time Grand Slam winner stands in a performance comparison. On the same level as the big favorite Simona Halep (Romania) but currently certainly not.
The defending champions in doubles, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, are also looking for their form. On Thursday, the duo from Coburg / Cologne failed in the quarter-finals in Hamburg 3: 6, 5: 7 to the US Open finalists Wesley Koolhof / Nikola Mektic (Netherlands / Croatia). "Right now that's a little bit the form, we have to keep working on it," said Mies. So there is also a question mark behind "KraMies" before the French Open.
Here is the individual draw for the men
rg2020