361 days after his severe ankle injury in the same place, Alexander Zverev celebrated a successful comeback at the French Open.
However, the tennis Olympic champion solved his compulsory task against the South African Lloyd Harris with a lot of effort and fought his way through a 7: 6 (8: 6), 7: 6 (7: 0), 6: 1 in round two of the clay court Grand slams There the 26-year-old meets unseeded Slovakian Alex Molcan.
“It’s nice to be back. I’ve marked this day in bold on my calendar for the past year“Said Zverev. He wasn’t satisfied,”but happy to have won in straight sets. I know I have to play better.“
Zverev, who was out for around seven months after the injury in the 2022 semifinals against Rafael Nadal, is hoping for a liberation in Roland Garros. The clay court season so far has been mixed for the Hamburg player, and he has now slipped to 27th place in the world rankings. Zverev also had more problems than expected with Harris (ATP rank 294), who struggled with calf problems from the end of the second set. Under pressure, however, he was able to rely on his serve.
last year’s finalist Ruud easily in the second round
Last year’s finalist Casper Ruud has easily reached the second round as the next title candidate. The 24-year-old tennis pro from Norway easily beat Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer 6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 2. Previously, world number one Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and Serbian Novak Djokovic had completed their opening tasks in three sets. Ruud was clearly inferior to Rafael Nadal in his 14th French Open triumph in last year’s final. The Spaniard is missing this edition of the clay court classic due to injury.