For his second appearance at the US Open, Alexander Zverev becomes an early riser again. The German duel between the Olympic tennis champion and Daniel Altmaier starts at 11 a.m. local time (5 p.m. CEST, live ticker at sportschau.de) – which the 26-year-old doesn’t really like at all.
“I don’t like getting up at 6:30 a.m. that will never change.”said Zverev before the game of the second round.
But the Hamburger can gain something positive from an appointment as the first game at the Grand Slam tournament in New York: “Then you have the rest of the day off and don’t have to wait all day for your match.”
Marijuana smell at number 17
The encounter between the Davis Cup teammates climbs back to 17th place – where Zverev in his opening match due to the smell of marijuana based on the US rapper “Snoop Dogg’s Living Room” thought.
In the fourth-largest stadium in the facility, Zverev confidently won in three sets against Australian Aleksandar Vukic on Tuesday. The former world number two had won the only encounter with Altmaier at the Australian Open 2022 so smoothly.
Zverev as the clear favorite
“I missed a lot to beat him in five sets, but that was two years ago.”the 24-year-old Altmaier recalled. “I was in a completely different position then, both playfully and mentally. Now I’ve made my steps forward. That’s why it certainly won’t be the last game that we both play at this high level.”
Even if Altmaier has fought his way up to the top 50 in the world rankings, Zverev is the clear favorite in the game. The current twelfth in the ranking counts himself among the top favorites Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz “contenders”, the contenders, for the title. He also named Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. “I find that when I’m playing well, I’m also in the conversation.”