Wimbledon: Alexander Zverev wants to end the drought on the sacred lawn
Alexander Zverev starts at Wimbledon with the confidence of a French Open semi-finalist. Nevertheless, the Hamburger stacks deep and gives only outsider opportunities.
by SID
last edit: Jun 29, 2021, 08:20 am
There is a drought on the sacred lawn of Wimbledon - at least as far as the success of the German tennis men is concerned. If you are looking for them on the noble winners board in the All England Club, you have to go back a long way. It was not until 1991, framed by Stefan Edberg and Andre Agassi, that the name Michael Stich was written in gold. 30 years after his legendary triumph over Boris Becker, Alexander Zverev is preparing to follow in the famous footsteps - even if he knows that this is anything but easy.
Therefore, the German number one struck a quieter tone than in previous tournaments, although the self-confidence after the semi-finals at the French Open is quite high. The undisputed industry leader Novak Djokovic, who has already won the Grand Slams in Melbourne and Paris, is "the huge favorite this year," said Zverev. And anyway, of the four major tennis highlights, Wimbledon is "the tournament that is the hardest for me to win".
Lawn and Zverev, that's one of those things. He won none of his 15 career titles on this surface, in Halle / Westphalia he was in the finals at least in 2016 and 2017. At Wimbledon, on the other hand, he only reached the last sixteen, four years ago. In the last edition before the pandemic-related cancellation last year, it was an embarrassing first-round bankruptcy.
Zverev with a good draw
"We boys just need a little more time to get to know this surface better," said Zverev. If he, Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas were able to defy world number one Djokovic on other surfaces, the gap on grass is significantly larger.
Already at the tournament in Halle, the man from Hamburg had emphasized that there was a "bigger gap" behind the Serb Djokovic. Also because Rafael Nadal does not start in London and there are question marks behind the form of record winner Roger Federer.
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Zverev himself has got used to the conditions on Church Road since last Tuesday in London after the knockout in the round of 16 at his dress rehearsal in Halle, the 24-year-old sees himself well prepared. "I did everything to ensure that I was in shape and that I could play good tennis," he said: "I hope that I can bring it to the field too - I can't do more than that."
At least the draw meant well with the world number six. The Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor shouldn't be too high an opening hurdle on Tuesday. And he could only meet defending champion Djokovic in the final.
Kerber at Wimbledon "without pressure"
The situation at Jan-Lennard Struff is completely different. The Warsteiner caught an enormously high opening hurdle in Medvedev, who won his first lawn title on Saturday, in second place in the world. Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber will also start on Tuesday, and Kerber in particular raised hopes with their first tournament victory in three years on Saturday in Bad Homburg.
The 2018 Wimbledon winner tried to keep expectations low before her first round match against the clearly weaker Serbian Nina Stojanovic. She went into the tournament "without pressure" , also because of a disappointing first half of the season, she emphasized: "Every single round is a victory for me."
Here the individual tableau of the men in Wimbledon
Here the individual tableau of the women in Wimbledon
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