French Open: Alexander Zverev - Slowly to operating temperature after a stuttering start
Alexander Zverev is in round three after a three-set win over Roman Safiullin at the French Open. And in the Stade Roland Garros it slowly gets to operating temperature.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Jun 02, 2021, 08:04 pm
For a brief moment last Sunday it actually looked as if Alexander Zverev's dreams of the first Grand Slam title at the Bois de Bolougne would come to an abrupt end. The native of Hamburg did not really find his rhythm against compatriot Oskar Otte, was confronted with a 0-2 set deficit after two sets - and struggled.
But Zverev caught himself, after winning the third round, didn't really let any doubts arise and finally solved the ticket for round two with some problems. On Wednesday afternoon the German met an old friend from his youth, the Russian Roman Safiullin. Another real test for Zverev, which it should pass in three sentences, but with two tiebreaks on the way there.
Zverev praises Safiullin
Accordingly, Zverev paid his opponent respect after his progress: "I think he has a fantastic match. I'm glad that I finished in three sets. The match was definitely not easy." This is the difficulty of the first days of a major playing against players who have not yet been allowed to breathe a breath of air on the largest tennis stage and who are accordingly excited to play on the big courts.
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Zverev attributes the fact that the starting position against Roman Safiullin was so clearly in his favor to the Russian's bad luck with injuries: "He had a lot of injuries, from the juniors to the adults. I know him and the guys around him. A couple of years He couldn't really play consistently for long, "explains Zverev.
Zverev is gaining momentum
However, Zverev attributes the fact that he also had to catch up some deficits in the sets against Safiullin to unfocused phases in his game: "My tactic is, I'll be a break behind, I'll fight back and come back. It doesn't work that way. I am Most of the time I had a break back because I didn't concentrate or the opponent played well, "explained the German.
Nevertheless, Zverev is very happy not to have gone the full distance again and to have won the match in three sets, as he saved valuable energy for the continuation of the French Open: "I think that will work for me be important in the course of the tournament. I'm looking forward to the next match. " In this meets the Serb Laslo Djere, who was able to bring down his compatriot Mimor Kecmanovic in five sets.
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