Alexander Zverev explained his fourth semi-final exit in a row at the lawn tennis tournament in Halle/Westphalia with incorrect information from his diabetes sensor.
“I had extreme problems with my sugar today,” he said after the 7:6 (7:4), 4:6, 5:7 defeat against the American Taylor Fritz.
Zverev has been a type 1 diabetic since childhood. “Unfortunately, the device showed a high sugar level just before the match, even though I felt like my sugar was extremely low,” he explained. Because a new measurement really showed a low sugar level, “I injected far too much,” said Zverev after the 2:39-hour game in great heat.
In the first 45 minutes of the match he consumed one glucose gel after another, resulting in almost 350 grams of sugar. “I felt horrible.” Physically, he was “not there at all” at times. “But I fought and gave everything,” said the French Open champion.
Sensor in error mode for the first time in nine years
After just 40 minutes, Zverev also had to be treated. “My back closed. They had to straighten my back, but that wasn’t the reason for the defeat,” said Zverev. It was the sensor. “I’ve had this sensor for nine years, and this was the first time it was so extremely wrong.”
He congratulated his feared opponent, against whom he lost seven times in a row: “Taylor played better than me and deserved to win.” Fritz will face his compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the final in Halle on Sunday. The American won the second semi-final 6:1, 6:3 against the German Daniel Altmaier, who surprisingly made it to the semi-finals with a wild card.
Winning a set despite treatment
Zverev took advantage of an early break against Fritz to take a 2-1 lead. Then his energy suddenly faded. Fritz won three games in a row after being 3-1 down. At 3:4 and the debut, Zverev interrupted the match and left the pitch for treatment. After eight minutes he returned and in clearly better condition reached the tiebreak, which he won 7:4 to the cheers of the audience.
In the second set, Zverev initially remained at eye level, but appeared increasingly physically exhausted. He lost the round 4:6. After a ten-minute recovery break before the third set, Fritz made everything clear in the heated battle against the bravely fighting Zverev with 7:5.
Zverev has to continue to wait for his first lawn title. In 2016 he lost the final in Halle against his compatriot Florian Mayer, and in 2017 against the Swiss Roger Federer. Now he was eliminated in the semi-finals for the fourth time in a row. In 2016, a German player triumphed at the tournament for the last of seven times.