The dress rehearsal in front of the French Open failed: Alexander Zverev already failed in the round of 16 at the ATP tournament at the Hamburg Rothenbaum. The local hero lost the thriller against the Frenchman Alexandre Muller 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 7 (5: 7) on Wednesday.
The world ranking in third received the next bitter setback four days before the beginning of the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. The Hamburger will probably not be able to fulfill the dream of the first major title in this constitution. The 28-year-old acted far too faulty and in terms of emotion without emotion against the world ranking 40. After the final in his “living room” last year, it was already over after two games.
In difficult wind conditions, Zverev did not find into the match on the Hamburg Center Court. The body language left a lot to be desired, and the Olympic champion of 2021 made many slight mistakes. Because the surcharge did not work as usual, a sobering first set was only 34 minutes from the perspective of the German sobering.
After his quarter -finals in Rome, Zverev had given the final for the mediocre Hamburg tournament as a destination – and at the beginning of the second round he finally played accordingly. Müller, who had never won against a top five player, now reached his limits.
Zverev fended off three break balls, then got the Frenchman’s surcharge and finally finally showed the fist. After winning the second movement, the thread tore again, Müller succeeded early. In the end it became a thriller in which the Hamburgers seemed to be on the hand several times – but again and again he brought his opponents back into the match with mistakes. It remains: since his final defeat at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, the Olympic champion completely lacks the consistency. The last of the five German professionals has also left the Rothenbaum.
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Sport Current | 21.05.2025 | 8:17 p.m.
